Klove Walker and the Phantom Shadow
by Mask of Secrets
Summary: Klove Walker is a pure-blood witch in a big family. When she and her twin sister Devin turn eleven,they go to Hogwarts where Klove meets Harry Potter's son James and they become fast friends. But something is brewing. And it starts with 3 wanted Death Eaters escaping Azkaban and a strange shadow following everyone. R&R. Made for UMADBRO-Yes-DeskFlip, my first ever reviewer.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. All I own is my own OCs and evil peoples and peoples to that effect.

Author's Note: I will probably write seven Fanfics to go for all seven years but I'm not quite sure yet.

A/N: There might be long periods of time where I do not update and then there will probably be several days where you find four or five chapters a day! Yeah. It depends a lot on my mood.

Dedications: First of all, I wrote this Fanfic for my first ever reviewer UMADBRO-Yes-DeskFlip. The idea to write a second generation Fanfic came from Starshine and Moonlight, a Fanfic writer.

Prologue

Catharus McGarmic sat in his cell, the cold wind running across his hollowed cheeks and sunken eyes. The moonlight streaming through the one window provided no relief from the inky darkness of Azkaban.

"Catharus…" said a voice.

Catharus looked up from his knees. He had not been crying. Just resting, waiting for the Dementors to come.

"Catharus… you have been faithful… even when I was gone…" said the same voice that had spoken before. It was no more than a whisper like wind.

"M-master?" Catharus said. He didn't like the waver in his voice.

"Seventeen years… seventeen years I have waited Catharus… I am weak from it too…" said the voice.

"Who- who are you?" Catharus said into the darkness.

The shadows on the walls began to squirm and writhe about. Then they formed the shape of a man. A man made of shadows that were blacker than black. And two red eyes.

A hiss of laughter, a snake's hiss escaped from the shadow.

"Catharus… I am many things" the voice said.

"W-what is your name?" Catharus demanded.

"First… I want your help… there is a place you must go… and retrieve an artifact… called the Elder Wand… sometimes known as the Death Stick or the Wand of Destiny… once you have this… you will bring it back to me… and I can return… return back to your world and time… like I was before I was killed… before I was killed seventeen years ago… and I can lead my loyal followers again… and you shall lead too… you shall lead too Catharus…" the shadow said.

What the shadow said was very tempting to Catharus.

"But, where is this artifact of power you want?" Catharus asked.

"Call me… Lord of Shadow" said the shadow.

"Where is it Lord of Shadow?" Catharus pressed.

The shadows moved about below the glowing red eyes.

It was like the shadow was forming a cruel smile.

Another snake like hissing laugh escaped it.

"At a place called… Hogwarts…" the shadow said know it was triumphant.

"Lord of Shadows… you still haven't told me your name though" Catharus said.

"Many people call me Voldamort… Lord Voldamort" said the shadow.


	2. A Letter for me and Devin

Chapter one

Letters for me and Devin

"AMILEA WALKER! GET OUT OF THE BATHROOM!" my twin sister Devin shouted pounding on the white wooden door.

"There are other bathrooms in this old shack" Amilea shouted back though the door.

"MUM AND DAD FORBID US FROM USING THEIR'S AND AVERY AND APOLLO ARE IN THE OTHER TWO" Devin said.

Okay, you're probably thinking, wait a minute. Back track.

Let me start with the basics. My name is Klove Walker. I come from a very big family.

Eldest to youngest it goes Carly who's seventeen; Carly has long curly black hair that falls around her shoulders in little ringlets and leaf green eyes that sparkle like Dad's. She's beautiful in my opinion.

Then comes Avery, who's sixteen, Avery has fair hair and pale skin. He has dark brown eyes like Mum's. He's already gotten a huge group of fan girls.

After that comes Amilea. Amilea is fifteen going on sixteen. She's adopted like a lot of my family and obsessed with the way she looks. She had short sandy hair that's very tightly curled and pale, icy blue eyes that barely ever reflect light.

After that, Mum and Dad kinda went crazy with kids. You see, next comes Apollo and Artimes. They're adopted twins both at the age of fourteen. Apollo had perfect blonde hair with bright blue eyes and perfectly straight white teeth. Artimes has dark black hair and intelligent grey eyes.

Next comes Devin and me. We're some of the only blood relations to Mum and Dad in this family. We're both ten, well, eleven today. I have shoulder length chestnut hair that is choppy and unruly. It had waves in it so at least I resemble Carly a little bit. My eyes are blue enough but they fade to a more purple color around the edges. I wear glasses because my eyesight stinks and I have plenty of freckles to cover my face. Then of course there's Devin.

Devin had short pixie cut black hair and very olive skin. Her eyes are definitely amber brown. She'd very dark but not to the point where she's Gothic.

Next comes more adopted kids. Triplets. Vivian, Emily, and Emma. They look identical, all with auburn hair, brown eyes and very pale skin. They're nine.

Lastly, there's little Jo-Jo. Jo-Jo is seven. He looks a lot like dad, with brown hair and green eyes. I think he'll grow into his look eventually.

Yes, I have a big family but we all have one thing in common. We're wizards.

Yes, yes. I know what you're thinking. Wizards don't exist.

Well they do.

Wizards usually attend one of three major schools: Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry, Bobatons, or Durmstrang. I'm going to attend Hogwarts since we live in England.

I've lived in this house my whole life you see, Carly was the first to get her letter, then Avery and so on. Devin and I are next to get our letters. Unless we're squibs. A squib is a non-magical person in a magical family. I doubt that we're squibs though.

"AMILEA!" Devin screamed and raised her hand to hammer on the door again when it opened.

Amilea stood there in full regalia. She had on a belly showing almost too thin white tank top, too short shorts that were way too tattered and high heel sandals. Her she, tightly curled sandy hair was shoved under a sunhat.

She gazed down her nose at the two of us, Devin in her worn and faded jeans, t-shirt and boots, me in my cameo cargo pants, cameo t-shirt, combat boots, and newsboy cap.

We looked quite odd together.

Amilea sighed.

"Yes, Devin. In. I'm done. Don't make me late for my date with Evan" she snapped.

"My date with Evan" Devin mimicked and entered the bathroom slamming the door behind her.

Amilea cleared her throat, adjusted her sunhat, and walked down the spiral staircase that circled the hall below.

Let's get on thing straight. Dad and Mum are rich. Our family can have whatever we want. Dad is a famous broomstick designer in the wizarding world and Mum lives the life of luxury as a famous fashion designer in the muggle world (Non-magical folk).

Dad custom designed our mansion so it would fit all of our needs. The front hall is surrounded by a giant staircase. There are seven doorways off the front hall. One leads to the kitchen, one to the dining room, one to the garage, one to the sitting room, one to the music room, one to a built in gym, and one to our modern school room.

I stood for a moment staring at the white door to the bathroom not believing Devin had cut me off. Well, it was in her nature.

"Hey sis" it was Artimes, her dark hair swept up in a ponytail. She wore a plain black t-shirt, silver cargo pants, and black leather boots. Her Swiss Army Knife hung around her neck.

"Hi!" I said cheerily. Our family doesn't have a problem with the whole adopted thing. We've always been close. Long ago Mum and Dad told their blood relations that the adopted children were to be treated just like any of us.

Next to her, thank the Lord, stood Apollo.

Apollo wore a white t-shirt and black shorts. On his feet were sneakers. His perfect white teeth were flashing in the light that came from the ceiling lamp.

"Bye" I said, realizing that that meant Apollo was out of the bathroom.

Artimes waved and began walking away to do something Apollo trailing in her wake.

I quickly walked to the staircase that went up to the third floor and climbed. Let me tell you, to live here, you have to be athletic.

I made it to the third landing and walked to the bathroom which was right next to Avery's room.

I opened the door. The handle was locked. Joy. I had to wait again.

**:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

Half an hour later I walked down to the landing. Tristan, our cook watched me.

"The usual? Or something special for your birthday?" he asked.

"Surprise me" I said and sat down.

"Darling! Come here! I have mail for you" Mum called from the entrance hall.

I stood up from where I had just sat down and walked out to the hall.

Mum was standing there a letter in her hands.

"You've been accepted!" she said happily. I could see tears of pride in the corners of her eyes.

"Devin too?" I asked my voice tight with excitement.

"Devin too!" Mum said her voice full of pride and joy.

"We need our wands! And books!" I said.

I looked around to see if I could find Devin.

She was coming down the stairs.

"We've been excepted!" I shouted up to her.

"OMG! OMG!" Devin yelled.

There was a general clatter as all my siblings appeared to congratulate me and Devin.

"Father will be proud!" Avery said.

"I can't want to show you around!" said Artimes.

"Wow!" Carly said.

I looked at Mum and found her smiling at me.

I smiled back.

I was going to Hogwarts!

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!


	3. A trip to Diagon Ally

Chapter Two

A trip to Diagon Ally

The next day we were all abuzz. The effects of being accepted had still not warn off even though it had very likely we would have been.

Mum decided we needed to go to Diagon Ally the first thing because September 1st was only a few days away.

To quote her except words, "You two need to get your school things quickly now before you have to leave! We'll take Flu Powder!"

She was also allowing us each to get an owl with all our other things.

We all gathered in front of the small fireplace in the kitchen.

"Mother! Can I go to the potions shop once we get there?" Artimes asked. It was her favorite subject.

"Yes, yes darling!" Mum said, "Now, as you all know, when we take Flu Powder we go in age order. Starting with Carly to show everybody how it's done!"

Carly stepped forward.

Her elegant hair was tied back in a French braid I noted.

Mum held out a cup to Carly and she took a handful of whatever was in it. Then she tossed the stuff (It looked like sparkly powder) into the fireplace. The flames burned bright green. Without fear Carly stepped into the flames. They licked around her but did no harm.

"DIAGON ALLY!" she shouted loud and very clear.

Then she was gone. She had been swept away to Diagon Ally.

"Okay, you next Avery" Mum said.

Avery stepped forward and did the same thing, taking the powder, tossing it on the fire, stepping into the fire, then instructing it to take him to Diagon Ally.

"Okay, Amilea!" Mum called out.

This was unfortunate for her.

"IT MIGHT DAMAGE MY HAIR!" Amilea sobbed.

"Get over it Amy!" Devin snapped.

Amilea shot her an angry look that encompassed me too. Why should I pay for what Devin said I might ask?

"How many times have I told you not to call me that?" Amilea screeched.

Devin shrugged.

"Better help her get through Dev!" I said.

Without another word Amilea did the same as Avery and Carly. Apparently she didn't like Devin trying to force her through.

"Apollo!" Mum said sounding slightly disturbed at the argument that had just broken out.

Apollo did the same as the others closely followed my Artimes who didn't need any prompting.

"Klove! Then you Dev" Mum called.

I stepped forward.

I took a handful of the powder and tossed it into the flames. The powder glittered as it fell. Then the flames turned the bright green color associated with Flu Powder. I took a deep breath and stepped into the flames. They licked around me but weren't hot.

"DIAGON ALLY!" I tried to say as clearly as possible.

The image of my kitchen and my family's faces (The ones left, Devin, Emma, Emily, Vivian, Jo-Jo, and Mum) whipped away out of sight. I was spinning around and around. I remembered to keep my elbows tucked in; a tip Avery had told me.

Then, after what seemed like an eternity I was spat out of a grate into… a group of warlocks standing around a fireplace trying to get warm.

The fireplace I had just shot out of I might add.

They all began stumbling around and I knocked over an eleven year old boy. He tumbled down on top of me.

"Sorry!" I said.

"It's fine" the boy said.

He helped me to my feet before brushing himself off.

That's when I got a good look at him. His skin was pale and his hair was dark. His eyes were hazelish.

"Are we in Diangon Ally?" I asked.

"Yup!" he said.

I looked around the store for any relations of mine. I didn't find any.

"Excuse me. I need to find my sisters and brothers" I said before walking off searching for them.

**:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

I found the others (excluding Artimes who had run off to the potions shop) all standing around Greengots the wizard bank.

There was a knot of people around them talking.

"Hi Mum, who are all these people?" I asked.

"Some friends" Mum said distractedly, "Carly's going into the bank, go with her" Carly was already halfway up the steps to Greengots.

I raced after her, Devin hot on my heels.

**:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

Let's get this straight; Greengots got repaired after the famous Harry Potter wreaked it to get into a vault. Even so, ever since then the Goblins are super edgy toward witches and wizards of any nationality. It can get pretty creepy when a horde of Goblins are glaring at you.

Carly led Devin and me to the very front desk.

As we walked I looked around. There were giant white pillars that stretched up to the stain glass domed ceiling. The floor was white marble and my combat boots made click clack sounds on it.

"Ahem! Mr. erm… Frunipp?" Carly said. She had to glance down at the name tag on the desk.

The old Goblin looked up.

"Me? Oh, yes… I think I am Mr. Frunipp" he said, "What do you need?"

"I need to make a withdrawal from the Walker account in Vault 912" Carly said putting on her most imposing look.

Mr. Frunipp got down from his desk with a great sigh then paused as if thinking.

"Diggi? Call Voldkin" he said.

I heard Carly snort at Diggi's name. A younger Goblin hammer on a bell on his desk and it tolled across the chamber.

A middle aged Goblin hopped down off a desk and walked over.

"Voldkin here" he said in gruff voice.

"Take these three to Vault 912" Frunipp commanded.

"Yes sir!" Voldkin said and led us a dark ebony door in the white marble walls. It was one of many that led into different annexes of Greengots I soon realized.

"Goblins are getting smarter aren't they Klo?" Devin commented.

I barely suppressed a giggle.

Voldkin scowled look but just opened the ebony door into a dark rocky chamber beyond.

The three of us walked inside after Voldkin (Who was still scowling).

Once inside I saw a cart on a thin rail that led down into inky black darkness.

Anything could be lurking down there.

Voldkin plucked up a lantern on a table near the door and lit it.

We walked to the cart sat down in it (Voldkin steering, Carly in front and me and Devin sitting in the back).

"You and Dev okay back there?" Carly asked as the cart slowly began to move forward.

I was about to reply when the cart nearly dropped out from underneath me.

We were plummeting downward then twisting and turning at odd and dangerous intervals. We nearly fell out the side of the cart and down a cliff at several points. I saw Carly holding tightly to the cart sides while Devin was screaming with glee and happiness.

"Dev! Hold on tighter!" I screamed tightening my own grip.

Devin reluctantly tightened her grip on the cart.

We swerved around a right corkscrew and Devin suddenly looked happy she had held on tighter.

Then it was over as soon as it had started.

We were stopped in front of a black metal vault door. Gold lettering on the door read:

_Vault 912_

"That's was awesome!" Devin said gleefully as she stumbled out of the cart.

I raced after her afraid the cart would start moving again.

Voldkin hopped out after doing something like but the cart in parking break and walked to the door.

"The Walker key Ms. Walker" he said.

Carly fished a key out of her bag she was carrying with her and handed it to the Goblin.

He flicked aside a piece of metal that looked the rest of the door away and slid the key into a now reviled lock.

"Whoa. This is totally awesome!" Devin said.

"It kinda is" I said staring around at the rock walls. It looked like a giant cavern.

"Shh…" Voldkin snapped.

Then he pushed the door open revealing a huge chamber full to the brim of gold, silver and bronze coins.

Carly took a bag out of her own bag and scooped a few golden coins into it before turning to Voldkin.

"Take us back to the surface" she said and after a moment she added, "Please"

Voldkin smiled revealing sharp teeth and motioned for us to get back into the cart.

Oh joy!

**::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

Once we got back out of Greengots we found Mum, Vivian, Emma, and Emily waiting for us outside with one new add-on.

Teddy Lupin.

"Hi Carly" he said.

"Hi Teddy, want to go for a walk?" Carly replied.

"Sure" Teddy said and the two walked off.

I looked at Devin.

She was making the barf sigh with her hands.

I suppressed a laugh.

"What's next?" I asked.

"Wands" Mum said simply.

Devin and I both grinned.

We had always waited for the moment when we were to get wands.

**::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

Olivander's shop was larger than I remembered from when Apollo and Artimes had gotten wands. Apparently it had grown.

Mr. Olivander stood waiting for us, a very old man.

"Hello, ah. A Walker!" he said in an old wizened voice.

"Two Walker's" I said.

"Ah. Another set of twins. Let me guess, Devin and Klove? Am I right?" Olivander said.

"You are sir" Devin said taking on a much more mature attitude than she usually managed.

"Let me see, a wand for Ms. Devin Walker first I think. I have just the one here somewhere" Olivander disappeared then reappeared a few minutes later holding a wand.

Devin took it and gave it a wave.

The effect was amazing. A wind ripped through the whole shop then settled to swirl around Devin for just a moment before dying into a solid stillness.

"An Ebony wood wand with Dragon Heartstring core. Moderately flexible, 11 and one half inches" Olivander said, "And for you, hmm… Ms. Klove… I think that we should try this Hawthorn one with core of Phoenix tail feather… its 10 and one quarter inches and very still"

Olivander took a wand from a shelf and handed it to me.

I waved it.

The effect was not good.

The chair behind Olivander's desk imploded, falling in on itself.

"NO, no, definitely not" Olivander said. He took the wand back. "But I wonder…" he continued, "I wonder if this wand would work. I thought the hawthorn would work too though… this one it Brazilian Rosewood with a core of Unicorn hair… 13 inches pliable"

He handed me a wand.

I waved it.

The same thing as what happened to Devin happened to me.

"Always liked that wand" Olivander muttered to himself.

Mum slimed at the two of us.

"Where to after this?" I asked.

"Robes" Mum said.

**::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

After paying nice Mr. Olivander for our wands we walked to Madame Malcolm's Robes.

We were getting fitted when five people entered. The two girls were red haired, the three guys were dark haired. I recognized one as the one I had knocked over when I'd shot out of the fireplace.

"Mr. Potter! What are you- of it must be James's turn!" Madame Malcolm said cheerily.

"Hello again" I said to the boy who came over to stand in line to be fitted.

"Hello" said the boy, "I'm James, James Potter"

"Potter? As in son of the Harry Potter?" I asked.

"That would be me! And you are?" said James.

"Klove Walker. This young lady next to me is Devin Walker. You can call her Dev if you want. That's what everyone calls her" I said.

Devin crossed her arms the best she could while being fitted.

"Your first year" James asked.

"Yeah" I said.

"Mine too!" James said.

"Really? Which house to you like best?" I asked.

James stepped up on one of the podiums to get fitted.

"I want to be in Gryffondor" he said.

"I'll probably end up in Huffelpuff" I muttered under my breath.

"Maybe we can hang out sometime like on the train" James said.

I nodded.

"That would be great!"

"Done!" Madame Malcolm said to me just as one of her assistants finished Devin.

"See you later" I said to James.

It looked like I had just made my first friend.


	4. Bording the Train

Chapter three

Boarding the Train

"Do you have everything darling? I'd hate for you to forget something this close to Hogwarts!" Mum said looking my trolley, "Kara?"

Kara was my owl.

"I think so Mum" I said.

We were facing the entrance to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, the brick wall that look apparently solid.

"This is so cool!" Devin said.

"And what about you Dev? You got everything?" Dad said checking Devin's cart, "Marcia?"

Marcia was Devin's owl.

"I think so" Devin said looking at the trolley.

"Okay, I and your father can't come through to the platform with you because we need to both get back to work!" Mum said.

She hugged me and kissed my forehead before doing the same to Devin.

I gave Dad a hug.

"Your mother said that she saw you talking to James Potter, son of the famous Harry Potter. He's a trouble maker is what James's parents say. I'd steer clear of him if you want to make your whole seven years at Hogwarts and not get expelled!" he said jokingly.

"I think if you told Dev that she'll just want to get into trouble more" I said.

Dad grinned, "I know. That's Devin Walker for you"

He then gave me a kiss on the forehead and the turned me to my cart.

"Dad, when can I go?" I heard someone sat behind me.

It was Vivian, the always impatient one.

"Soon Viv!" Dad said.

I grabbed the handles of my cart and pushed it toward barrier to platform Nine and Three Quarters.

Mum and Dad had told me how the barrier worked and what would happen and Carly, Avery, and Artimes (Notice how I don't say Apollo or Amilea) had assured me of it.

But still, I walked slowly toward it not wanting to crash into a brick wall.

"Hurry up there" Carly called after me.

I started a slow jog.

Then broke into a run.

I blinked once and squeezed my eyes shut waiting for an impact against something hard and cold. A second later I opened my eyes.

I was in a new station and before me sat the scarlet steam engine, puffing out glittering clouds of smoke into the air. The Hogwarts Express!

I was here!

I didn't wait for Devin or anyone else.

I unloaded my trunk and owl cage from my trolley and dragged it to one of the many doors on the train. Getting up into the train was harder. Finally after what seemed like an eternity or trying I succeeded. I pulled my luggage down the center corridor until I found an empty compartment. I opened the door and shoved my trunk inside and set my owl cage on one of the empty bench seats. Then I heaved my trunk up into the luggage rack.

I sustained a rather nasty cut along my arm for my efforts.

Then I put Kara's cage on the floor near the window where I would sit before plopping myself down onto the seat itself.

It felt good to sit.

"Hey! Fancy meeting you again Ms. Walker!" said a voice.

My head snapped to attention and I looked at the compartment door I had left open.

It was James Potter.

"Hi… erm… should I call you James or Mr. Potter?" I said.

"That depends. Are you Klove or-!"

"Klove" I cut in, "I like it better. It sounds less formal!"

"Then you can call me James" James said.

I chuckled to myself.

"WHAT?" James demanded, "Anyway, may I sit?"

I nodded, "Sure!"

James sat down and it took both of us to get his trunk up onto the luggage rack next to mine. He set his own owl cage next to Kara's on the floor and sat down across from me.

"Where to you live?" he asked.

"On the edge of Godric's Hollow. Dad is a broomstick designer you see and Mum is a fashion designer. We're kinda… um… rich. Dad custom designed our mansion" I explained not going into detail, "Where do you live?"

"I live at the center of Godric's Hollow, near where Dad's parents died. You know that old burnt down house" James said.

I frowned.

'I've never seen you around town though" I said.

"That's because we spend a lot of time with our cousins Rose and Hugo. It's Rose's first year too!" James explained to me.

The compartment door slid open and Devin entered. Her dark hair going every which way.

"Sup?" she asked.

"Hi Dev" I said.

Together the three of us just managed to squeeze Devin's trunk onto the luggage rack.

We were all sporting some rather nasty bumps and bruises to show for it to I might add!

"Whew" I said plopping back down on the bench seat.

"Wow" James said also sitting down across from me.

Devin sat down next to me and wiped her hand across her forehead.

"Three eleven year olds trying to get a thirty-five pound trunk into a luggage rack" she said. This about summed up what we had just did.

There was w high pitched whistle pierced the air.

"ALL ABOARD!" the conductor shouted from outside.

I sat back as the train started to move slowly.

I didn't see Mum or Dad waving because they weren't outside the train.

I was going to Hogwarts!

"He Klo? Dev? Are you guys okay in here?" Artimes had poked her head in.

"We're fine" Devin said, "In fact, I think I'm gonna go for a walk"

Devin got up and left. I watched her walk away and sighed.

"Thank you my lovely sis" I muttered rubbing my cut on my arm.

"Who was that?" James asked.

"One of my sisters, Artimes" I explained, "My whole family from eldest to youngest goes like this, Carly, Avery, Amilea, Apollo, Artimes, me, Devin, Vivian, Emily, Emma, and Jo-Jo" I listed.

"Whoa!" James said, "You have a big family!"

"Yeah. Amilea, Apollo, Artimes, Vivian, Emily, and Emma are all adopted" I told him.

"My whole family is consists of my Mum, my Dad, Albus; I call him Al, and Lily"

"It must be nice to have a small family" I said sighing.

'So, what house would you want to be in?" James asked.

"I'll probably be in Huffelpuff" I said.

"But which house to you _want _to be in?" James asked.

"Gryffondor" I said.

"I told you the other day when we were getting robes I'd like to be in Gryffondor too!" James said cheerily.

I was beginning to like James Potter quite a lot. I thought we would make very good friends.

We had left London and were now speeding along the country side. I looked out the window.

I heard the compartment door slide open again.

I turned around.

In the doorway stood a boy with messy brown hair and twinkling blue eyes. He looked about me and James's aged maybe a little older.

"Do mind if I join you? Everywhere else is full" the boy said.

I shrugged and looked at James.

"Sit down" James said.

"Hi, I'm Daniel, people call me Danny though" said the boy.

"Klove Walker" I said.

"James Potter" James said.

"As in son of the famous Harry Potter?" Danny asked.

"Yep. That would be me. Klove here said the exact same thing when we met in Madame Malcolm's Robe shop!" James said, "My father tends to draw a lot of attention to myself and sometimes that isn't great"

"You're telling me!" I muttered so quietly that no one heard. My father was famous! He designed brooms.

Danny grinned.

"A pleasure to meet you James Potter and Klove Walker!" he said and shook both our hands vigorously.

This guy was getting awfully close to being off his nut!

"A pleasure to meet you too Mr. er… what did you say your last name was?" I said.

"The pleasure is all mine! Oh yes, my last name Abyss" Danny said.

"Then, a pleasure to meet you Mr. Abyss"

Danny came completely in and sat down next to James.

"Whose trunk is up there?" he asked.

"My sister's. Her name is Devin" I said.

"I think I've met her!" Danny said.

"ANYTHING FROM THE TROLLEY! ANYTHING FROM THE TROLLEY!"

Someone was shouting outside our compartment.

It was an elderly witch pushing a trolley along. The trolley was covered in sweets of all different kinds. I stared at it for a moment then stood up and walked over to the door.

"Hello, um… yes. May I please have nine pumpkin pasties, three licorice wands, and nine chocolate frogs? Um… yes I think so" I said.

"Yes dear! Anything else?" the elderly witch asked.

"No Ma'am" I said and handed the money over to the witch.

She smiled kindly at me and took the money before handing me what I had requested.

I returned to my friends in the compartment and handed them each three pumpkin pasties, three chocolate frogs, and one licorice wand. They took these sweets and gobbled them down quickly. I didn't do any better.

"I got Gryndelvold!" James said holing up the card at the bottom of one of his chocolate frogs.

"Dumbledore" I said.

"McGonagall" Danny said watching the picture intently.

We stacked these in piles in the corner and ate our frogs.

"These are good" James finally commented.

"So, Danny-Boy. What do you think your house will be?" I asked.

"I… I'm not sure. Ravenclaw or Slytheren probably" Danny said.

There was a knock on the compartment door. It was Carly.

"You three need to put on your robes. We'll be arriving soon" she said.


	5. The Sorting

Chapter Four

The Sorting

After we had all changed into out robes we arrived at the castle. It took my breath away with its towering turrets and amazing stone architecture.

"WHOA!" I said as it came into view.

This was quickly echoed by James and Danny.

I hadn't seen Devin the whole trip but I wasn't worried. I got onto the platform and gasped again.

A giant man was standing in the midst of the crowd yelling something,

"FIRST YEARS THIS WAY!" called the giant.

James, who had helped me unloaded and got off the train with me, walked straight up to the giant and tugged on his huge moleskin coat sleeve.

I had no choice but to follow. After all, the giant was calling, "FIRST YEARS THIS WAY!"

"Are you Hagrid?" James asked.

"Yeah, and who are- OH! James! James Potter right! I've been waiting for you to come here!" the giant, presumably Hagrid said.

'Yeah. I'm James" James said, "And this-" he turned around, grabbed my arm, and dragged me forward, "Is Klove Walker!"

"Another Walker eh? I remember when I took your sister Artimes across the lake. She was so interested in everything! And Amilea! She got pushed in and became sopping wet. Then she started screaming and flailing about! I had to fish her out before the giant squid came and ate her or something. Pity though. Should have let her drown. She was always a real pain during Care of Magical Creatures. Thinking it might get her dirty…" Hagrid said, "Anyway Ms. Walker. Don't you have a sister? Devin or something like that? Where is she?" Hagrid craned his neck to see if he could find Devin somewhere among the mob of people around us.

"Dev will be along shortly" I said.

Sure enough a few minutes later when almost all the first years had gathered around Hagrid Devin appeared.

She looked sheepish for being late but shrugged it off quickly.

"OKAY! LISTEN UP! FIRST YEARS TAKE THE BOATS ACROSS THE BLACK LAKE!" Hagrid called out.

"Boats…" I mused to myself.

"THIS WAY!" Hagrid called out to all of us and led us away from the train.

It wasn't far to the boat docks but I hung back. James politely waited for me but Devin and Danny went ahead talking cheerily together.

"Are you scared of a little water?" James asked me.

I crossed my arms.

"Of course not you idiot!" I said and walked forward to the last remaining boat without anyone in it.

Hagrid was already seated in his boat and getting ready to oar to the castle.

James jumped out onto the boat first. I jumped right after him and nearly sent us both into the water.

"Sorry!" I said as we sat down.

I took up one oar and James the other. We were the only boat with two people in it.

"EVERYBODY! OAR WITH ON THE LEFT SIDE FIRST" Hagrid called out to the people in the boats, "THEN THE RIGHT. THEN THE LEFT! DO NOT GET OFF COURSE OR YOU WILL END UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LAKE AND THAT IS BAD!"

"You tellin' me!" said a girl with a strong Jersey accent.

I dipped my oar in the left side and waited for James to do the same. I had done rowing a boat before at a summer camp I had gone to once.

"Just follow me" I said to James who was, apparently clueless on how to row a boat.

"Great" he murmured.

Honestly, for an eleven year old boy raised in a pure blood family he was almost clueless of this! But so was I so I couldn't speak.

I began to row with James helping a bit behind me.

"One two!" I finally had to start saying to keep him on track.

But I wasn't doing much better. Nor was anyone else except for a few muggle born kids.

"Almost there" Hagrid called out not as loudly as before.

There was a muffled _thump _as we hit the dock on the other side of the lake. I looked back at James and grinned at him.

"That wasn't so bad was it?" I asked him.

"No…" James said. Did he look slightly sea sick?

I nimbly leaped off the boat and onto the shore then offered James a hand.

"Girls" he muttered and scrambled up without my help.

Hagrid was the last to get off the boats; he hurried all of us up a small hill and onto a lawn.

Before us stood a huge castle.

I nudged James, "Suddenly I think you see a lot of area for mischief"

He nodded, "Oh yes I do! This is gonna be the best year ever!"

**:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

We slowly entered the Entrance Hall. There was a giant white marble staircase leading up and up and I longed to climb to the top of it but I didn't. We had just entered through giant oaken front doors and another set of double doors went into what James said should be the great hall.

Hagrid once we were all inside closed the giant oaken doors and then managed to slip away (Though how a giant man can slip away to parts unknown I have no idea whatsoever).

We all milled about in the crowd.

"Hello" said someone behind me.

I slowly turned around.

"And who might you be?" I asked the girl, arm in arm with two a boy.

"Alice Vain. This is Grayson McLane" said the girl.

She was tall for an eleven year old, her face was pretty(Ish) but her eyes were cold and grey. Her hair was sandy and she looked much like Amilea. I was even struck my how _much _she looked like my sister.

"And you are?" Alice asked.

"Klove Walker!" I said, I was about to go off on one of my defiant streaks.

I felt someone come and stand next to me and looked over to find Devin and James.

"Get lost!" Devin said.

Apparently she didn't like Alice.

"Gotta be careful who you make friends with Ms. Walker" Alice said grinning a grin with straight white teeth.

"Devin is my sister! Be careful who you talk to because the boy is James. James Potter" I scoffed.

"Oh…" Alice said her voice trailing off.

"Welcome first year students to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You are going to enter the hall and for a line at the front of it were you will be sorted. Follow me!" said a wizard with dark hair.

"What's your name?" McLane asked.

"Professor Longbottom" said the man.

McLane snickered and James aimed a kick at McLane's leg.

"He's an Auror! Mum and Dad know him" James explained to me.

"FOLLOW ME!" Professor Longbottom said and began to lead us into the hall.

Four tables lined the length of the hall, all packed with students. The ceiling reflected the night sky outside with I though was awesome.

We drew every eye as we walked up to the front of the hall and formed a line.

"The sorting may commence!" said the Headmistress who sat at the head of the hall.

I craned my neck to see what was about to happen.

I saw… _a hat._

Amazing right?

Then a rip along the brim opened and a voice issued from it.

_Four founders there had always been,_

_But Slytheren turned traitor,_

_Black magic wit out cost,_

_For he was its creator,_

_But that is past,_

_And at last,_

_Another year does come,_

_Annual when Slytheren was thwarted,_

_And students stand before me,_

_Ready to be sorted,_

_Will they be in Gryffondor,_

_Where lay the brave of heart,_

_Will they be in Ravenclaw,_

_Where reside the smart,_

_With they be in Huffelpuff,_

_Where stand the truly happy,_

_Or will they be in Slytheren,_

_Where live the sly, dark, and snappy_

The hat finished its melodious song and I figured it was the Sorting Hat.

"Arutt, Daniel" cried out Professor Longbottom.

Danny walked up and sat down on the stool the Sorting Hat was sitting in. The moment it touched his head it yelled out "GRYFFONDOR!"

Danny got up and walked down to join the Gryffondor table.

After a few more minutes of sorting Professor Longbottom said, "McLane, Grayson!"

McLane walked up and sat on the stool. The Sorting Hat was placed on his head. Five seconds after it had been placed there it said, "Slytheren!"

McLane got up and walked to the Slytheren table.

"Potter, James" Longbottem said.

A hush fell over the Great Hall like a blanket.

I gave James the thumbs up as he climbed up onto the stool and sat down on it. The hat was lowered onto his head and rested there for a whole ten seconds.

"GRYFFONDOR!" the old hat yelled and James stood up grinning.

This should have made me feel good but it made a knot of fear form in the pit of my stomach. What if I wasn't in Gryffondor? I'd have to make all new friends.

After a long time Longbottom called out, "Walker, Devin"

"Good luck Dev" I hissed in Devin's ears. She grinned at me and walked up to the stool where she sat down and waited for the Sorting Hat to be placed on her head.

Professor Longbottom placed that hat on Devin's head. As soon as it touched her head it yelled, "Huffelpuff!"

Devin stood up and skipped away toward the Huffelpuff table. She didn't seem upset about it at all. I wondered if she secretly wanted to be a Huffelpuff.

"Walker, Klove!" Professor Longbottom called out.

There were a few laughs that I had come here with my twin but they soon all died out.

I walked up the stairs to where the stool sat and lowered myself onto it. I was painfully aware that everyone was watching me.

Professor Longbottom placed the Sorting Hat on my head and I nearly jumped out of my skin as a voice spoke in my mind.

"_Another walker this year… hmm… where to put you" _

Not Slytheren. Anything but Slytheren! I though ferociously.

"_I wasn't going to put you in Slytheren!" _ The Sorting Hat said in my mind. It sounded truly offended.

"Which house then?" I asked out loud in a whisper.

"GRYFFONDOR!" the Sorting Hat called out.

The Gryffondors cheered and Carly got out of her seat and stood up!

I walked down the steps to Gryffondor Table. I had been sure I'd be in Huffelpuff. I wasn't brave. In fact, I could be quite wimpy sometimes!

"You got into Gryffondor" James said patting me on the back as he sat down next to me.

I saw a lot of my other family too.

Carly, Avery, Apollo, Artimes, only Amilea was in Huffelpuff.

"Vain, Alice" Professor Longbottom called out into the remaining three people.

Alice walked up and sat down. The hat touched her head and yelled, "Slytheren!"

"Wow. Vain is in Slytheren" I said to James.

"I didn't like her nor did Devin" James said decisively.

"And before we can all dig in I have a few announcements to make to all of you who are not wasting away from hunger" The Headmistress, McGonagall called out to the room, "First of all our caretaker Filch has told mw to remind you that the Dark Forest at the edge of the school is forbidden to all students in all circumstances. Two, your classes and schedules will be handed out tomorrow morning! Three, I am pleased to announce our changes in staffing this year. Our old Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher suffered unfortunately from a rather nasty jinx during his vacation and so Professor Pech will not be returning! Instead taking his position is Professor Arian!"

A very pretty woman stood up from her seat. She had long dark hair and pale skin that was very white.

"Hello and thank you!" Professor Arian said smiling.

"For what?" McGonagall asked coldly.

"For those wonderful words of welcome. I'm sure that I can last longer than anyone else in this post for a while. I don't believe in silly superstitions like this post is cursed!" Professor Arian said emphatically.

McGonagall's mouth slowly was becoming thinner and thinner.

Then Artimes stood up.

"Shut it! We're all starving! Let's eat!" she yelled.

"Yes. Let us eat!" McGonagall said primly.

Professor Arian sat down hard on her seat as the plates in front of every place filled with food.

"Yum. I'm famished" I said and reached toward the mashed potatoes.

**:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

A few hours later (I was judging that it was ten and we had started eating at eight or seven… I wasn't sure) I had eaten everything I could and was happily talking with James who seemed to have a lot to say about his family.

"Al, he's easy to trick! Well, sometimes!" James said cheerily.

I looked over my shoulder at Professor Arian.

She was sulking like she had been for the last few hours barely eating anything.

"Well, now that we have eaten I say that we entertain ourselves with a song and then we all head off to bed! I shall conduct" McGonagall said. She waved her wand and music started. Then, a ribbon appeared in the air with words on it and everyone began to sing.

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, hoggy warty Hogwarts,

Teach us something please,

Whether we be old and bald,

Or young with scabby knees,

Our heads could do with filling,

With some interesting stuff,

For now they're bare and full of air,

Dead flies and bits of fluff,

So teach us things worth knowing,

Bring back what we've forgot,

Just do your best, we'll do the rest,

And learn until our brains all rot!"

Everyone stopped singing and took in a breath. The ribbon disappeared and the music stopped.

"Now that we have done that, I suppose that you wish not to listen to my ramblings so all of you… off to bed. Prefects, lead your houses to the house Common Room!" McGonagall said and turned to Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, to speak with him.

"Gryffondors this way" shouted the Prefect, Salinas.

He motioned for us to follow him so we stood up and did.

James stood right next to me grinning.

"I can't wait till tomorrow when we start classes!" he said with glee, "I want to see how well I do. What do you think of the new DATDA teacher?"

"I don't like her" I said, "She's very… girly it seems like. Too girly"

"Interesting" James said.

We walked up and up. And up.

Finally we arrived at the entrance to the Gryffondor Common Room.

"Password?" asked the picture of the fat lady over the entrance.

"Wolf's Bane" said Salinas, "That's the password!"

The portrait swung inward and the students began to clamber through it.

"Boys to the left and up, girls to the right and up" said the female Prefect, Marie.

"G'night James. See ya tomorrow" I said and turned to the right and climbed up the stairs. I was in need of some sleep.


	6. The Daily Prophet Article

Chapter Five

The Daily Prophet Article

I awoke the next morning lying in my four-poster bed staring up at the canopy.

I sat up and sighed deeply. I was slightly homesick already.

I got out of bed and remembered that it was the first day of term. Today would tell me what I excelled at and failed in.

I walked over to my trunk that lie on the floor at the foot of my bed and flung the lip open.

"Whatisit?" said one of my roommates sitting up.

"Sorry, nothing" I said as I dug through my trunk for my robes.

Suddenly my roomie became fully awake.

"I'm at Hogwarts!" she said.

"Yep" I confirmed, "And... um… who are you?"

"Hillary Finnegan" said the girl.

"Erm… hello, nice to meet you" I said.

"You too" said Hillary happily.

I had managed to fish out my wand, my bag (Mum had helped me pre-fill it with the books and other equipment I would need), and my robes which I tossed on my four-poster.

"Who are you?" Hillary asked eyeing me oddly.

"Klove Walker" I said simply.

"If your Klove Walker… than is your dad Jason Walker? The famous broomstick designer?" Hillary asked her voice squeaky.

"Yes…" I said cautiously.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEE! I'm meeting Jason Walker's daughter! I can't believe it! Can you introduce me to Apollo? Or Artimes? They're the only ones who ever get in the news with your dad! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEE! I'm meeting Klove Walker! I want to meet all your sisters and brother that go here! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Hillary yelled.

Honestly, I had never met a girl so emphatic about Quidditch (Wizard sport).

Well, except for Carly.

Unfortunately Hillary's scream had awoken the other three girls in the dormitory.

"Joy!" I muttered before grabbing my robes and closing my curtains that hung around my bed.

I changed quickly and jumped back down to the stone floor where I grabbed my bag and wand and ran across the room before I could be questioned further upon my father and siblings.

**::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

"What happened in your dorm Klove?" James asked me ten minutes later as we were walking out of the Portrait Hole.

"I'm not really sure. See, I opened my trunk to get out my robes and bag and stuff and some Hillary gal woke up and started screamed about meeting my siblings. I would really think she be screaming about something else. I'm not particularly famous like you are" I explained to James as we walked down the many staircases that twisted a moved.

"Don't look at me" James said.

"I won't, I know you're a lot more famous than anyone and your dad is the most famous" I said.

James whacked me on the arm.

"OW! What was that for?" I asked rubbing my arm.

"Well, I don't want to be famous" James said.

I shrugged, "Nor do I. But I'm not famous so I really don't think I need to care about it because I never plan to be famous" I confided honestly to James.

"Well, then. Nor do I!" James said boldly.

I started to chuckle.

"What?" James asked.

"Nothing" I giggled out.

We arrived at the Entrance Hall and wasted no time quickly walking into the Great Hall and finding seats.

As soon as we arrived I spotted Professor Arian, her long dark hair in a French Braid.

"How long till post comes?" I asked absently.

"It'll be here soon" said a fourth year sitting next to me.

Right on cue there was a screeching sound of owl of all colors descended upon the Great Hall.

"Mail is here!" James said watching for anything coming our way.

There was something coming our way.

Three owls.

One was Kara which made me sigh. Another was a black one with a newspaper strapped to its foot and the third was a grey and white owl that seemed to be having trouble flying straight.

I heard James groan.

"What?" I asked him.

"Dad's owl Hedwig died before the battle of Hogwarts. So, later Dad got another one and that one was killed somehow. No one knows exactly. Then he got this owl. I call him Gimpy O." James explained to me as the owls clattered down on the table all around us.

"Gimpy O.?" I asked laughing at the name.

"Yep!" James said.

Kara, Gimpy O. and the black owl (Presumably carrying the Daily Prophet) landed in front of us. All three stuck out their legs which all carried something.

I untied Kara's letter and grabbed the Daily Prophet from the other owl while James untied his letter from Gimpy O.

I opened Kara's letter and stared at the neat handwriting that was my father's. Then at the less neat handwriting that was my mother's.

_Dear Klove,_

_I hope that you are enjoying Hogwarts and that you like the classes. I wish you to write back to me tonight because I know this will arrive in the morning. Work went well last night; I'm almost done making a new broom. Maybe you can name it! Hee hee! _

_With love, Dad._

_Dear Klove,_

_I hope school is going well and that you are making new friends. Remember to avoid that James Potter. He's nothing but trouble! Rowdy and has a tendency to make people angry. Anyway, Vivian, Emily, Emma, Jo-Jo and I are fine here but we miss you and Devin around. You guys talk so much. Write back,_

_Mum_

_P.S. Love you_

I looked over at James. There was a growing look of disgust on his face as he read the letter.

"Mom…" he groaned out loud.

"You should see what Mum said about you in her letter she sent me. She said you're nothing but trouble and I should steer clear of you" I told James whose face had gone from disgust to outrage to a laughing smile.

"What?" I asked James.

"Oh, I just find that funny. Everyone says that about me!" James said.

He picked up the Daily Prophet and opened it to read. A few seconds later he dropped it down.

"Would you look at this?" he set the Prophet down in front of me.

I picked it up and stared uncomprehendingly down at the headline for a few seconds before realizing I was supposed to read it. It read in big black letters:

_Wanted Death Eaters Escape Azkaban_

I looked at James.

"Wanted Death Eaters? Wouldn't they be dead? Seventeen years with Dementors… that would kill any normal person right?" I asked.

"Read the article. I haven't read it fully but I suggest we can share it"

I looked back down at the paper and set it down on the table to read it.

Most of the article was dominated by three pictures.

One was on a man with hollowed cheeks, deep, sunken eyes, and gaunt features. His longish hair fell over his eyes and brushed his shoulders which were barely visible in the picture at all. I had to resist the urge to recoil.

The second was all blurred and distorted though it was most definitely female.

The last one was a tall man looking like he had fared better than the rest. His straight hair was combed and held back in some way. It also wasn't as greasy as the first man's. His eyes were not nearly as sunken as the first man's and his sockets not quite as bruised. His eyes didn't look crazed either they looked calm and collected like a man one might find at a rich place to eat. His cheeks weren't hollow and, if I had been older and this man not a Death Eater, I would have said he looked somewhat handsome for seventeen years in the wizard prison.

I looked down at the article on the paper below the three large pictures and started to read out loud to James.

_The Ministry of Magic has experienced a rather nasty shock as the un-escapable wizard prison Azkaban has been broken out of. Every Death Eater in prison black Ninety-Eight had escaped but their most worried are the Death Eaters Catharus McGarmic and Edmund Garcia. The female's name and classification is classified to all who are normal wizard. All these wizards went to jail about seventeen years ago. All for crimes of serving a dark wizard known to us as The Dark Lord, or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. They have killed several families and people are warned to steer clear of them if seen and do not engage them in combat. Many more wanted Death Eaters are pouring out of Azkaban and the Ministry of Magic can't seem to stop the tidal wave. If they don't stop it soon almost all of the Dark Lord's remaining army will be released into the world to commit more crimes. Stay away and report any sightings of these wizards. Do not engage. Though their master is dead they are still dangerous and will try to kill you on sight most likely._

I whistled.

"Wow. Just wow" I said looked down at the paper in my hands.

"They never told us the name of the female Death Eater. I wonder if the truth is too embarrassing…" James pondered.

"Well, whatever it was we can't do anything about it. As much as I don't like to say it, we have to let the Ministry do what they can to try to stem the Death Eater escapes. The one thing that troubles me is what if a Death Eaters that escaped are coming to Hogwarts. And this is only my first day of term!" I said.

"Relax Klove" James said.

I looked across the table at James.

"Okay…" I said.

"Klove Walker, James Potter, your schedules. Hillary Finnegan, Samantha Thomas, your schedules" Professor Longbottom was passing out all the different schedules to the people on all the different tables of the hall.

James looked down at his schedule and groaned.

"Double potions. Then double History of Magic!" He said.

"Looks like a long day of what my family has told me" I said.

"Let's get this over with" James said.


	7. Double Potions

Chapter Six

Double Potions

After the shock of reading the article the rest of breakfast was rather uneventful.

Artimes sat down and talked to me and James for a while but nothing else happened.

Finally it was time to go to our first classes which (Unfortunately) like our schedules said was a double potions class. And the only one in our family who seemed to like potions was Artimes. We all knew that Artimes is crazy (Just a bit).

Anyway I stepped down the dark steps that led into the darkness of the dungeon. A dark foreboding settled over me like a blanket and made my skin tingle as I stepped down onto the stairs leading down into the blackness.

I shivered violently and hoped beyond hope that it wasn't like this always. If so, I would drop potions of my agenda!

"Are you okay?" James asked.

"I'm Fine. Just spiffy actually. Just the dungeons seem foreboding and kinda creepy" I explained, "I shivered because my skin was tingling. Here, step here. No, a little to the left. Can't you feel it in the air and on your skin?"

I guided James around a bit trying to get him to stand were I had been standing when I had felt the feeling. Finally he was in the right position and, he too (Like me) shivered violently. I wondered if he'd felt what I'd felt.

"Yeah, I felt it. What do you think causes that?" he asked.

"Dunno" I said.

"Move, please move. Sorry, excuse me. Move. Let me though!" Professor Slughorn was making his way through the congregated students.

He reached the stairs and we all followed him down into the dungeon.

We had a minor delay were Professor Slughorn had to unlock the door but other than that we arrived in the Potions classroom quite on time.

"Oh, sorry" I said as I bumped into Professor Slughorn.

"It's quite fine my dear girl. What's your name anyway?" Professor Slughorn asked.

"Klove Walker" I supplied.

"Another Walker! Ah! If you're as good as your sister Artimes as this then you'll make it to the Slug Club!" Professor Slughorn said merrily as he entered the class room followed by all the students in the class.

"Slug Club?" I asked.

"Yes. A club for very accomplished students in my classroom! Haven't you heard of it? Well, I guess you haven't having just asked about what it was and being a first year! And who is this young fellow?" Professor Slughorn asked jauntily.

"Hello sir. My name is James. James Potter" James said who had joined me.

"AH! A Potter eh? Well young Mr. Potter! Your father had quite a knock for doing potions. In fact he was the best in his year when I was teaching. Seconded only by young Ms. Hermione Granger. I can't see why he didn't do as well when Severus Snape taught here. Only thing to explain it is pure dislike or distaste" Slughorn said, "I can see why Harry wouldn't like Snape. Nasty man you know. He died in the wizard war" As Professor Slughorn rambled James and I managed to slip away to a far off table in a darker corner of the room.

"Well…" James said but he let his voice trail off into nothingness as Professor Slughorn clapped his hands together to call the whole class to attention.

"As you can see I have set up your caldrons in front of you for the first lesson. In Potions class I can teach you many things. I can teach you how to make Love Potions so potent they can make anyone love you, Antidotes that can cure almost any poison, and even brew Living Death. I can teach the difference between monkshood and wolf's bane. Anything to do with ingredients, the properties of potions, and how to brew potions. All that I can teach you. There is much to learn do we need to get started. We don't have much time in each class but during Double Potions we can brew more complicated potions. I want you all to do well in your exams to study hard and you will be rewarded. Many people dislike potions, as you have heard so I will walk you through the first steps of making a potion so you can learn if you like it or not. There are very few that have the right touch. Potion making is an art. Everyone, take out your copy of _Basic Potions _by Martin P. Clan and open it to the introduction! Page seven if you're wondering" Professor Slughorn said motioning to his own copy of _Basic Potions _by Martin P. Clan. He picked it up and began to read the introduction out loud, "The delicate art of Potion Making causes many great things in a wizard such as precision and steady hands. It also stimulates the brain to think and study on different ingredients. In this book guided by your Potions Teacher we will all learn this steady art and shall become successful in it as well" Professor Slughorn finished the first paragraph of the introduction.

I looked over at James who was looking bored.

"Long winded isn't he?" James asked in a hoarse whisper.

"Yes" I agreed just as quietly.

I looked down at the introduction page and flipped for the next three pages of long paragraphs before following along with my finger.

_In an example that I will show you upon the next page you will see a diagram of the proper cauldron care. A rusty cauldron makes for bad potions and horrible results because the rust and dirt seeps into the potion itself and throws all the ingredients purposes away. Then it would be a waist._

I flipped the page to see the paragraph covered most of it and that there was a picture of a cauldron with different cleaning equipment surrounding it in no apparent order. It looked like a giant mess of tools that would come in hand if someone got in a street fight.

I looked over at James who was following along the words that Professor Slughorn was saying. Occasionally he tapped the page as it there was something wrong or he didn't like the theory of what Martin P. Clan was saying in his book. I began to wonder how much his father had told him about Hogwarts.

I looked back down at the page and was forced to flip several.

While I had been distracted watching James and looking at the picture Professor Slughorn had moved on several pages and I had to search for quite a while before I found our place again and began following along with my finger.

_As the type of potions I listed above are the types you will learn at Basic Potion Level (9I will refer to Basic Potion Leven as BPL). You, reading this book should be at BPL (Like I stated before this stands for Basic Potion Level). Please, I beg you do well in your grades, until the first recipe. _

"Martin P. Clan is very long winded as I'm sure you realized. He has some very interesting thoughts though so I suggest we get to work. We only have an hour left that taking half an hour… wait no. we have two and a half hours" Professor Slughorn said after some calculation.

"You thing think Martin P. Clan is long winded…" James muttered to me.

I almost cracked up but managed to stop myself before I burst out laughing.

"As you will see, the next page of your book is a recipe. I want you to look at what you will need for this recipe then get it from the supply closet in that direction" Professor Slughorn said pointing to a small closet door in the back of the classroom I hadn't noticed before.

I looked down at the recipe. Across the top in loopy gold handwriting it read:

_Simple Antidote _

Below that there was more readable black type that read:

_A simple Antidote to cure very basic poisons. Easy to brew for beginners and intermediate level Potion Makers. It is suggested that Expert Potion Makers make this as well just to keep in the basic practice. The BPL is simple in general._

I looked down at the ingredient list.

It was simple enough but even so I brought my book to pick out everything I would need for the potion.

James came with me.

"How do you like Hogwarts?" he asked.

"The professors are really long winded" I said as I picked up eye of newt.

"I know" James said taking powdered lace wing off an upper shelf.

"Other than that it's really fun. Though I'm sort of homesick" I confided.

We left the closet and let the next two people enter.

I set all the ingredients I was carrying down on the table and looked down at my book.

"Heat water" I read off before a wand was stuck under my cauldron and a flame was ignited.

"Thanks Professor" I said turning to see Slughorn doing the same to James's cauldron.

"You're welcome dear girl. Now get to work. There's an hour steeping time on this potion!"Professor Slughorn said before hurrying off to help some other students get fires started so their water could boil.

I looked down at the book again and read off step one.

"1. Empty all powdered lace wing (Amount shown above in ingredient list) into cauldron then stir clockwise for ten seconds" James looked at me and I looked at him.

Then we each emptied the amount listed above into our cauldrons and then stirred clockwise for ten seconds.

"This is tedious!" James said, "I can't see how my dad could ever like something this boring"

I shrugged and looked down at my book to read the second set of instructions.

"2. Wait for water to boil then drop one of your two bezoars into the water then let sit until the water turned faintly brown and gives off dark grey smoke. Make sure your smoke does not glitter because that means all the lace wing had evaporated"

As I was reading this our cauldrons had begun to bubble and hiss. I quickly dropped a bezoar into each.

James had gotten out a piece of parchment and copied the recipe down. He was scratching out parts and replacing them with his own different idea on what should be done.

"Oi! James. Pay attention!" I snapped at him.

"Sorry" he said, 'I was just thinking, if there's a method to this it could be reversed into a poison right?"

"Yeah…" I said stopping look down at the book.

Dark grey smoke started billowing from our cauldrons.

"Excuse me one moment" I said and looked down at the book, "3. Put in all eye of newt in and stir counter clock wise twenty times before dropping remaining bezoar in after eye of newt. Stir clockwise eight times then let liquid sit for one hour before bottling"

James and I took all the amounted eye of newt and dropped it into the cauldron which had immediate effect.

The potion turned from an icky brown shade to a bright turquoise.

After stirring it counter clockwise twenty times we each dropped the remaining bezoar into the liquid (Which promptly turned scarlet). It hissed and bubbled with (If you could consider it so) menace. It didn't resemble an antidote.

"As you all know, I have set out glass vials beside your cauldrons. I wish you to bottle your liquids. Very few of you should have achieved perfect marks in your first class but don't worry. Next class the instructions will be written up on board so the whole class can read them from a far. We just did a basic antidote. The rest of the class, which means the next hour before bottling, will be designated to reading Martin P. Clan's method of making this potion" Professor Slughorn said with relish.

I wondered if he secretly enjoyed reading Basic Potion Level stuff.

"Please take out your books. This is a silent reading so no talking" Professor Slughorn said.

I looked down at the book and resigned myself to read it. It was reading something that a baby could write. I was pretty exasperated and hoped that the class would just be over soon and we could go somewhere else.

"After double History of Magic we have Defense Against the Dark Arts" I hissed at James under cover of everyone getting out their books and papers.

I plucked out a quill and some paper and stuck it behind my upright book so I could pretend to be reading.

"Let the silent reading begin!" Professor Slughorn said enthusiastically.

I started to doodle and James leaned over to help me. No one heard the scratching of our quills amoung all the flipping of pages.

The scene we drew depicted a witch and a wizard (Drawn by me) standing next to a high gilded throne (Drawn by James) one a cross hatched tile floor (Drawn by both of us). As we finished the picture Professor Slughorn looked up from his book.

"Silent Reading time is done. I suggest though that you read the theory behind each potion before and after you make it. It will allow you make much more potent potions and so on. Martin P. Clan has written some very interesting books that I would like you to read. They will interest those who like this class greatly. Any questions? To do with the lesson I mean. I've heard many questions that don't have to do with anything" Professor Slughorn said.

He was ranting.

The several hands that had gone up went down.

"Now, I want you to very carefully bottle your potion. An unsteady hand can spill it all over the place and we can't have that in my classroom. Also, I should've warned you of this in my first speech, do not let the potion touch your hands for several reasons. Number one is that you could've made it wrong and turned it into a very potent acid that can eat through anything. Number two is that your skin could have left over ingredients on it that could tip the careful balance of the potion. Number three is, the potion could react to your skin like it was an ingredient and make a whole new result taking away the purpose of making this potion. There are also some more subtle reasons for not touching it to your hands that I want you to look up and find in Martin P. Clan's books. I also think you should all read his autobiography that he wrote on how he grew up and what made him so great at potions" Professor Slughorn said, "Now, get a move on bottling those potions. If you leave them for too long, especially with these antidotes they can evaporate. So bottle up quickly, what are you waiting for? Go! Go!"

I plucked up a vial and filled it to the brim with my liquid and James did the same.

"Cheers!" I said and clanked my vial to him before walking up to Professor Slughorn.

"Here's James's and my antidotes" I said before putting them both on the desk at the front of the room and walking back down to my desk were I began to pack up my books and the parchment James and I had doodled on.

"Fun lesson?" I asked him under cover of the buzz of talking going on.

"Yep. It was fun except everyone in this class is very long winded" James said. He looked in disgust at _Basic Potions_ by Martin P. Clan and snorted.

"History of Magic is next. From what my whole family said, it'll make Martin P. Clan look interesting" I mumbled as we left the classroom to head to History of Magic.

"Let's go" James said heaving a big sigh.


	8. Spontaneous Combustion and its Merits

Chapter Seven

Spontaneous Combustion and its Merits for your Health

History of Magic was generally boring.

Professor Bins, the teacher of History of Magic was _not _who one might expect him to be. In fact, who and what he was seemed to shock the _whole _class.

He was a ghost.

As soon as we entered there was a general hubbub as we all searched for our seats. After we'd all found them, sat down, put our bags beneath our desks, and settled in Professor Bins opened a big tome and began to read different types of lore from the ancient texts.

All I caught of Professor Bins' words were ramblings about how Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter stole some old Diadem. This was all hideously boring. And I was too busy watching James to listen. He'd gotten out another piece of paper and started drawing a pretty good version of himself.

At least, I thought it was him.

It could've been his younger brother. What was him name? Oh, yeah. Albus.

It took two, long, tedious hours for Professor Bins to finish to what he was reading and put down the blasted book. He looked up at the whole class and looked surprised to see us all sitting there in front of him. Apparently, he'd forgotten us. Which was fine by me really. I hated the old geezer in all his ghostliness.

"Oh. You're all still here? Am I supposed to hand out homework? Please, could someone tell me?" Professor Bins asked in his reedy voice.

"We're all first years, but, I think you _are _supposed to give us an assignment to do" said a bespectacled boy with ruffled sandy hair.

"Ahem, well, read chapter, uh… one and two of hmm… Hogwarts a History. Uh… yes. That's right. Hmm..," Professor Bins said and looked down at his book muttering under his breath, "You may all go. Ungrateful wretches"

I was seriously offended at this last comment and stood up quickly.

I grabbed my bag and stuffed my paper, quill and book I'd been following along in to my bag before marching out of the dusty old classroom. I didn't even wait for James to follow me because I was so offended. Maybe I might have overreacted?

Still it was rude of the old bat to call us 'Ungrateful wretches'!

James caught up with me and grabbed my shoulder. He used that to turn me around so I was facing him.

"Are you angry or something Klove?"He asked. His tone was joking enough but I could hear that he had been offended too.

"Of course not James! Why should I have reason to be offended?" I asked in my most polite, sweetest voice I could muster.

"Well, Professor Bins did call us, and I quote directly, 'Ungrateful Wretches'! I thought you were offended the way you sped out of the classroom like that" James explained. His voice still hinted at hurt for being called a name though. I judged he had pretty high self-esteem!

"OH! Oh, no! Me angry? Oh no, in fact, I am quite irate! I couldn't be more irate!" I said in a high pitched lofty voice that bounced off the walls and got us several strange looks from students passing by us.

"Oh" James said. But I didn't hear the hurt beneath his voice anymore. Instead I heard genuine laughter trying to escape, "Well, Miss Klove. I am sorry I assumed such that you were angry. How shall I make it up to you? Perhaps, I shall escort you to you next lesson?"

"That would be lovely Mr. Potter" I said trying to look imposing. But the corner of my mouth twitched and soon I was laughing out loud.

James was laughing too.

It was at that moment that we arrived at the Defense Against the Dark Arts class room.

I pushed through the door and scanned the room which had been shuttered. Lights that could not be turned off or covered by shutters were covered by thick dark blue or black satin drapes with star and moon patterns covering them.

All the desks were gone from this room unlike all the other rooms I'd seen.

At the top of the stairwell that led up to a podium stood Professor Arian.

She held a wand in one hand and her other rested on the railing of the stair.

"Hello Class!" she said in a velvety voice after everyone had arrived.

"Hello Professor Arian" chorused the class up to their teacher.

"You are all here to learn Defense Against the Dark Arts… am I not right about this?" Professor Arian asked silkily. _Much too silkily._

"Yes" all the class called to Professor Arian.

"Good!" Professor Arian chirped, "Most teachers here at Hogwarts that assumed the post that I hold now take a more… mundane version of approach to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Or in this class you will come to know it at DADA. I, instead of following in my predecessors footsteps choose to go on a more direct too to learning this DADA. Today, we'll start with a minor fire spell that you can use to start fires. Obviously. The incantation is simple. No wands and repeated after me! Pyro!"

"PYRO!" the whole class yelled.

"And then bring your wand up and down in a sweeping motion to the left!" Professor Arian said and demonstrated with her own wand, without the incantation, "Now line up in rows of eight and practice it. I don't expect you to get it on the first try"

I lined up in front next to James (One my left) and big surprise, Danny (On my right).

"PYRO" I said.

Fortunately, I did it right. Unfortunately, my wand was pointing up towards where Professor Arian was standing and observing all the students waving their wand hopelessly.

A short jet of flames shot out from my wand lighting everything it touched ablaze. It made its way up and up grabbing onto the dark blue draped until it reached where Professor Arian was standing and watching.

She noticed nothing of this because the sound of the flames was almost inaudible through the yells of "PYRO!"

The fire gripped onto her robes and they started to burn and sizzle. It took Professor Arian several seconds to actually realize that the smell of burning was coming from her.

At this point she shrieked and screamed and yelled trying to beat out the flames on her robes. Then her hair was ablaze (Which gave off and awful odor) and she was screaming and yelling over that too and jumping about like a madman (Erm… madwoman).

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Screamed Professor Arian drawing her scream out for as long as possible.

It was at that moment that it crossed my mind that I had just lit a teacher on fire.

I gasped and tried my hardest to feel stricken and sorry for Professor Arian but I couldn't muster all that emotion up.

Instead, I dissolved into a fit of laughter and giggles.

James, who was still standing next to me, was bending over with his hands on his knees laughing as hard as he could.

For a moment I searched the crowd for where Danny was and found him leaning up against a wall.

By now, the whole class was laughing or giggling at Professor Arian's plight.

Except for Alice Vein.

She quickly climbed up the steps to where Professor Aria was running about and did her best attempt to calm her down by first stopping the 'poor' (Notice the air quotes) professor from running about then asking how to put out fire.

"Water! Water! Cold water!" Professor Arian screeched.

"A spell Professor!" Alice pleaded.

All this had been going on over the course of several seconds.

Professor Arian said a spell that I couldn't make out and water spurted from the end of her wand onto herself.

She glared down at everyone in her class watching each and every one of our faces with deliberate slowness.

"If. I. Ever. Find. The. Person. Who. Did. This." She motioned to her burnt robes and her singed hair, "I. Will. Personally. Kill. Them. And. Mount. Their. Heads. On. My. Office. Wall. Then. Burn. It. Every. Single. Day. Like. They. Did. To. Me." her tone was tight and clipped, "Class. You. Are. Dismissed. For. Today. Make. Sure. You. Read. The. Next. Ten. Chapters. Of. Your. D.A.D.A. Book. Or. Else. Please. Leave." Her face was slowly contorting with rage and I had a feeling I didn't want to be in _that _classroom anymore.

I grabbed my bag and was the first out (Closely followed by James and Danny) and into the corridor beyond.

Apparently, if she found out what _I _had _accidently _done she would kill me and mount my head on a wall. And if that wasn't gross enough, then she'd burn me to a crisp, to put it in her words, "every. Single. Day."

"That was bloody brilliant Klove" James said catching up with me his face glowing.

"Thank you, thank you" I said pausing to do a little bow.

"I don't know! Do you think Professor Arian will find out it was your rouge fire spell that did that to her hair and so on?" Danny asked. His voice was half concern half laughing.

"Eh! Who cares, she has no evidence to back herself up so in this instance I am clear and free to go. Everybody guilty until proven innocent… or was the other way around?" I said and began to ponder which way the sentence went.

"Still…"Danny chided, "You have to be more careful"

"Relax Danny! If you work in an area where people are doing fire spells then you have to think about spontaneous combustion and its merits for your health" I explained gently to him, "On the bright… I mean brighter side, we get an extra hour of break!"

"Yes." Danny said sarcastically, "Yippee!"


	9. Shadows Rising

Chapter eight

Shadows Rising

I walked down the corridor my fingers running along the icy cold walls. The stone was cool and felt good. There was a slight draft that seemed to come from nowhere and I figured from the bone chilling October wind.

Today was All Hollows Eve, or as it was more commonly known Halloween. I couldn't believe how fast the time had passed during the year. It seemed to me like barley yesterday that I'd boarded the train with Devin.

I'd been able to spend enough time with Devin on breaks and Devin was very talkative about her new friends Samuel and Michelle. We would discuss what we'd learned and generally have fun.

The first Quidditch match had already been held (Slytheren vs. Gryffondor) and Gryffondor had won thanks to Artimes with her fast flying skills. Avery, Carly, Apollo and Artimes were all on the Gryffondor team and I wanted to be too.

Artimes was the seeker, Carly the keeper and the Quidditch team captain, Apollo a beater, and Avery was the other beater.

"_Don't know what I want… so don't ask me_" I sang in a really off key note.

James and I hadn't been hanging out lately. He'd taken to spending time with Melissa Martin. She was a Gryffondor and in first year but, to me, she was the meanest, brattiest girl who ever walked the face of this earth. Of course, that was my opinion only and I was bias. But James seemed pretty fond of the brat and they had taken spending a lot of time together. Which left me with Danny and Devin and James's cousin Fred Weasly the 2nd.

I was fine with this at first, but soon I began to miss James's company. He was nice to be around.

I was far from jealous but I considered tons of different cruel revenges and pranks to play on Melissa. What? I like planning things!

"'_Cause I'm still trying to figure it out..._" I sang the next line of _A Place in this World _by Taylor Swift in a much more on key note as I walked. I couldn't wait until Christmas break when I would go home and visit my mum and dad.

It was Sunday so there were no classes that I needed to attend. In my spare time I liked to wander the castle and became familiar with it. I didn't quite know why. Wherever I went though it was like I could feel someone's eyes on the back of my neck.

But every single time I looked around there would be no one there.

I was feeling particularly down today. I had seen James and Melissa hanging out at lunch and they'd been laughing and talking the way that James and I usually did. Maybe Melissa was saying mean things about people behind their backs like she usually did. I didn't know. I just knew that I was feeling really bad, a mixture of anger, sadness, and resentment and that I did _not _like Melissa Martin. She was so… ANNOYING!

Plus, the little brat looked more perfect than Apollo. And nobody, I mean nobody can look more perfect than Apollo. Maybe that was partly because he'd throw a giant tantrum if he knew someone was better looking than him and partly because he was the image of perfection.

Melissa had glittering white teeth that needed a safety sign reading: _Looking at teeth may cause permanent blindness. _They were so straight and perfect every time I say her "Dazzling" smile; I wanted the knock her teeth clean to Timbuktu! Her nose was perfect and small without a single marking on it and her skin was perfectly tanned. Nobody has perfectly tanned skin! Except for maybe Apollo. Melissa's hair was long, straight blond and always perfectly brushed. And you want to know what the worst thing was? Well, other than Melissa never had to wear anything to keep her hair back. The worst this was that Melissa had the most annoying voice ever!

I tried to get some of the phrases that that jerk had said to me when James wasn't around out of my head but they kept echoing there, refusing to go away.

'_Oh, since when is Hogwarts taking the street urchins'_

'_Who are you? The mud monster?'_

'_The only good Walker is Amilea!' _

'_Why were put in Gryffondor? You seem so much more like uh... how will I say this? Oh, like you don't belong here!'_

'_I bet you can't even do a simple levitation spell!'_

What I'd said to that was, '_Wow, I didn't even know you knew what levitation meant!'_

I was starting to think Alice Vain was nice. And we'd been arch-rivals since we first arrived at Hogwarts. Yes, Melissa Martin was that bad.

It hadn't been until very recently that I had been writing to my mum and dad about this. The images of the letters that Mum and Dad had sent back swirled through my head and the words seemed to lift of the page and muddle my thoughts.

'_Hang in there Darling, things will only get batter' – Dad_

'_Don't worry Honey, you can avoid Melissa and hand out with you sister' – Mum_

I wanted to scream!

I was done 'Hanging in there' I wanted to get my best friend back, and maybe in the process get rid of Melissa Martin… FOR GOOD!

"_Don't know what's down this road… trying to see through the rain coming down_" I finished the first verse with the best tune I could manage and walked across the corridor to look out the rain lashed window.

"You are a good singer" said a hissing voice from behind me.

I froze and slowly turned around.

The shadows behind me were gathering into a condensed form. And then, when it was complete, if formed the shape of a man. Finally, glowing, lava red eyes appeared to complete the Spector's ghostly visage.

"Wha- who? W-who are you?" I stammered out.

"My name is the Lord of Shadow… If you wonder what I am… I am a Phantom… different from a ghost… but almost the same… and you… you are Klove Walker are you not? You look troubled…" the shadow-phantom thing said.

"H-h-how do you know my name" I stuttered.

All my muscles had frozen. I couldn't move.

"I have followed you about… for many months… I have come to warn you… Do not meddle…. But, enough about me… you seem troubled… go ahead and tell me…" The Lord of Shadow said in his (I assumed it was a boy) hissing voice.

"I won't tell you anything" I said.

"Hmm… pity… I could have helped you…" the Lord of Shadow muttered.

Then, the scariest thing yet happened.

Around where the things arm should have been, a shadow detached itself forming an arm, and then a hand. It stretched about than began to reach toward me. The hissing voice came again this time menacing and dangerous.

"If I were you Klove Walker… I would remember not to meddle… see what has happened to me… I was a strong wizard once… I went where no one else dared to go…" the Lord of Shadow said, "And remember Klove Walker… there is any good and evil… there is only power… and those too weak to take it!"

I heard footsteps come down the corridor.

Somehow, that gave me strength and I took a step back from the questing shadowy hand reaching toward me and found my beck to the wall. The Phantom started to move forward. I fumbled for my wand inside my wand.

"G-get away from me" I said but my voice came out nothing more than a scared whisper.

I searched my mind for a spell and wondered what the disarming spell would do to the phantom.

Then, it hit me and I raised my wand, "Pyro" I said and a small burst of flame was shot out of the time of my wand. It sputtered and then went out with a hiss.

There was a scraping laugh, "Weakling…"

Suddenly I had a boost of confidence and said, "Says the Phantom that can't use magic! Ha! PYRO!"

This time, a jet of flames _did_ shoot from my wand. It shot out with such force the Lord of Shadow was shredded in an instant and I was alone in passage way. My knees turned to jelly and I sank to the floor, resting my head on the cold stone.

"Klove?" it was Danny, "Klove, are you okay? You look really pale. Maybe you should go see the nurse. Here" Danny offered his hand to help me to my feet and I gladly took it, "Yes. I think you should go see Madame Pomfry"

"No…" I shook my head weakly, "Danny, can I trust you to keep a secret?"

"Yeah" Danny said. His eyebrows were coming closer and closer together in a worried frown.

"Well, I saw something. Something big and black… with red eyes. It claimed to be a Phantom. Called itself the Lord of Shadow" I said. Fear was suddenly etched in Danny's face. My description hadn't been that terrifying had it?

"L-like that?" he said in a quavering voice raising his hand to point behind me.

I whirled on my heel to see the Lord of Shadow already reformed, looming behind me.

"Yes Danny," I said, "Exactly like that!"


	10. A Quick Chat with the Dead

Chapter nine

A quick chat with the dead

"RUN!" I screamed as the phantom shot toward us. Danny didn't need to be told twice. We bolted down the corridor our footsteps ringing and echoing loudly. All the while, the Lord of Shadow was slithering along behind us.

Its red eyes were fixed on me the whole time.

I turned and pointed my wand at it summoning up all the anger I'd been feeling the last few weeks and screamed at the top of my lungs, "PYRO!" the fire that burst from the tip of my wand filled the entire corridor before it died down. All the portraits on the walls looked indignant and angry at my unexpected use of magic. To them it might look like I'd just shot a ball of fire for no apparent reason. I could hear there grumbling as Danny and I sprinted on.

"The Great Hall?" Danny asked breathlessly after we rounded a corner.

"Do you know where the headmistress's office is?" I asked him.

Danny shook his head, "No, however the teachers might"

"And where you we find them?"

"In their offices or the Staff Room" Danny answered.

"Sounds good to me" I said.

And we bolted again. We could hear the hiss behind us of the shadow moving slowly along behind us. Then, as we sprinted it died away. And, I, the clever, somewhat confused yet wonderfully amazing Klove Walker ran straight through a ghost.

Yes folks!

_A ghost_.

Sir Nicholas to be exact.

I was about to mutter a hurried apology and keep running when I realized that the hiss of the Lord of Shadows had died away and it was just Danny, Nick, and I alone in the corridor. It took me three more seconds approximately for my brain to process a question which I didn't realized I had asked until it landed smack dab in the middle of the three of us like a floundering fish, "Sir Nicholas, sorry. Excuse me, but what do you know about Phantoms?"

Nick looked and said dryly, "Yes, I'm sure you are sorry about running through me. You say it's dreadfully uncomfortable for you humans however, have you ever had anyone run right through you like you don't exist?"

"Um… no" I said, "Danny, I don't think it's still after us. Now relax and stop pulling at my arm" to tell the truth, I the momentary fear that had gripped me while I had been running from the Lord of Shadow had dwindled away as soon as I had ran through our house ghost. Danny, who had been pulling urgently at my arm paused and looked quizzically at me and my Nick.

"Ah, Phantoms" Nick said, "Quite hideous and very dangerous creatures really. They try to scare people into doing what they will. Ghosts are nothing like Phantoms. You see, there is no way to destroy a Phantom. But, humans can be destroyed. And the Phantom's usually plot to find a way to come back to life. The whole thing is quite gruesome if you ask me however, nobody ever does" and with that, Nick's ghostly form drifted through a wall gloomily.

I looked at Danny and he looked at me.

"Okay," Danny said, "We've got a Phantom loose in the castle. Great. What is it here for?"

"Dunno" I said, "But I might someone who does"

**::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

"Come on Dev! You can solve lots of problems!" I said.

Devin, Danny, James's cousin Fred the II (Who just likes to be called Fred), and I were walking together along a corridor. Fred scratched the side of his nose and Devin rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly shaking her head slightly.

"I can't think of any way to restore someone to life at Hogwarts. But then again, this place is full of secrets. So..." she said, "Tell me the encounter again. Did the Phantom say anything that would give away what it was planning?"

"I've already told you! No, the Phantom didn't mention anything" I said.

"Wait…" Fred said.

"What?" Danny, Devin and I snapped at him in unison.

"You've all heard the tale of the Deathly Hallows right?" he asked.

"Well DUH! Who hasn't?" I demanded.

Every wizard child was told the Tales from Beatle the Bard. It was a wizarding story book. The Deathly Hallows was one of the tales. I'd told it to Danny too with some help from James. He had mostly sat around correcting me. Hmph.

It was about three brothers who were wizards. They came to a deep river and used magic to build a bridge. Death felt cheated because lots people drowned in the river but he pretended to congregate the brother and gave them each a 'prize' for their ingenuity. The eldest brother wanted a wand that was more powerful than any other so Death plucked a branch from an elder tree and handed it to the eldest brother. The middle brother wished to humiliate Death even further and asked for a stone with the power to bring back the dead. So, Death took a pebble from the river back and handed it to the middle brother. The Youngest brother asked for something that would let him go from that place without being seen by others. So, reluctantly, Death handed the youngest brother his own invisibility cloak and let the brother go on their way. The eldest brother went and used the wand to settle a score with another wizard who he had long quarreled with. Drunk with the power of the wand he went to the tavern and boasted of its power. Later that night, someone came and stole the wand, slitting the eldest brother's throat for good measure. So, Death took the first brother. The middle brother went home and turned the stone thrice in his hand calling up the woman he was to marry before her untimely death. He was happy to see her again but she soon became sad for the world of the living was not a place for the dead. The middle brother, driven mad with grief took his own life. And so, Death claimed the second brother. Now, Death searched for the youngest brother for many years, never finding him. And I was only when the youngest brother was at a very old age did he take the cloak off and hand it to his son. Then, he greeted Death as an old friend. And that was it. The End! They all sorta kinda not really lived happily ever after!

"Well," Fred said, "There are these people who think the Hallows exist. And erm… I kinda know they exist because I've seen two of them"

"Wha-?" I said.

"I'm not sure I follow" Danny said, "The tale of the Deathly Hallow is just a fairytale right?"

"Wrong. The Elder Wand is hidden in this castle. We have to alert the headmistress to protect the castle from Phantoms. We have to get this 'Lord of Shadows' guy out of here. And to protect the Hallow. Klove, you said that Nearly Headless Nick said that Phantoms always are looking for a way to come back right?" Fred said all in a rush without punctuating and all in one, single breath. I wish I had that skill. Then I could get my point across much faster.

"Yeah" I said. It was an agreement and a confirmation.

"The wand is what the Phantom is going to use if he can find it" Fred said.

"Wow," Devin said, "You're smarter than the average wizard"

I sighed and just shook my head, "To the Staff Room"

**::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

"You want me to believe four young eleven year olds that a wand of questionable existence needs protection and that there is a Phantom that I need to remove?" asked headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, "I must say, after Harry Potter graduated from Hogwarts I thought all this nonsense would be over. Apparently I was very wrong. Though I don't believe the wand exists, I find myself thinking that a search for Phantoms is necessary. Now off you go"

We were standing in her office.

After we had run to the Staff Room to find Professor Arian, Professor Slughorn, and Hagrid, Arian had shown us to the Headmistress's office. After that, I had explained everything that had happened and Sir Nicholas was called to testify. After that, I had to repeat everything and Danny, Fred, and Devin had to tell the story from their point view. It took almost the rest of my Sunday up which was a bit of a pity but I did have Halloween feast to look forward to so I didn't mind too much.

After we were dismissed and left the office I shook off the dazed feeling that had been affecting me through this whole encounter. You might ask why? Oh, maybe because James and Melissa were waiting right outside patiently.

I ignored them and kept walking.

Honestly, James Potter had as much right to hand out with whoever he wanted as I had to hand out with whoever I wanted. Therefor I couldn't intrude, and preferably trample, on his and Melissa's friendship. However, you have never _met_ Melissa!

"Hi Klove" James said catching my shoulder. I waved Devin, Danny and Fred on ahead of my and turned to face the boy I'd thought was one of my best friends.

"Hello Potter" I said.

"Still angry about…" James let his voice trail off. I had let James know that I wouldn't hang out with Melissa. And he chose her anyway! The nerve! What is the point of having a best friend who is a boy if he keeps hanging out with other girls? What is the point I ask!

"Look Potter," and James, to my satisfaction, looked slightly taken aback by my sudden venomous aggression, "I've made it clear I don't want to hang out with Miss Martin, so, if haven't come to grovel at my feet for forgiveness, get lost!" then I turned on my heel and marched away.

"Klove…" James said helplessly behind me but I kept walking.


	11. Christmas break starts on a bad note

Chapter ten

Christmas break starts on a bad note

Nothing eventful happened, well nothing eventful _of note_ happened until right before Christmas break. Devin and I were standing at the entrance to the Great Hall talking about our last lesson (Me: DADA, Devin: potions).

"I can't believe that Michelle sabotaged my potion! She put wormwood in it and that-!" Devin shuddered, "I mean, I know that I disarmed her in DADA but this… she might have ruined my whole potions grade for this semester!"

"Yeah, you think that is bad? Arian won't get off my back ever since she found out I was the one that lit her on fire on our first day. It was like… four months ago. Her hair has grown back!" I complained, "She's been bugging me about how I wave my wand… and what my wand is made out of! And she says it's too long and – " I sighed deeply.

"Miss Walker and er… Miss Walker. I wish to speak with you" McGonagall had come up to us.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Our search for the Phantom turned up one lurking on the eighth floor. We have gotten rid of it and there are now boundaries around the school. There is nothing more to worry about. And, speaking adult to child, I would watch your back, both of you. I have a feeling…" McGonagall trailed off and then straightened before saying, "That will be all. Good Day Miss Walker and Miss Walker. Have a Merry Christmas" and walked swiftly away.

I looked back at Devin about to resume my tirade about Professor Arian when I heard the said teacher say, "No Miss Kistoverṏv! You may not make amends to what you did in my class today; I cannot see why you can't combat with Miss Martin! She is the best student I have ever taught!"

"Oh right" said a girl with caramel hair. She had streaks of the brightest red and gold running through her hair and she was rather striking. She was eleven and most likely from Ravenclaw since I had seen her trying to disarm the annoying brat!

Her name was Autumn Kistoverṏv and she was a very nice young girl when I'd talked to her.

"Are you sassing me?" Arian demanded.

"Get over it" Autumn Kistoverṏv said smoothly.

"UHG!" Arian said and marched away screaming, "My office. Five O'clock! Don't be late!"

Autumn Kistoverṏv grinned at me and Devin before walking evenly into the great hall still a slight smile playing on her lips. Then, I heard more footsteps and I looked around my heart sinking as I saw exactly who I did not want to see.

Melissa Martin and James were coming down the main steps and Melissa was laughing.

Oh great.

I began to enter the Great Hall and when James caught sight of me and called "Klove! Wait. I want to talk to you" he hurried toward me and as he did I began to think up some rude a witty comebacks for whatever he had to say.

"I'll be in there" Devin muttered and motioned toward the Great Hall before leaving me at the mercies of Melissa Martin and James.

"Lovely" I murmured darkly.

James grabbed my arm and pulled me aside so Melissa had to alter her course to get to us. That gave us like, ten for seconds of talking! Jeez. Thanks.

"Klove, I'm sorry that I was so stubborn about hanging out with Melissa. She is really nice to me and her dad it rich and-!"

I rudely cut him off, "I didn't let you pull me aside so you can tell me how wonderful Melissa is. Not cut to the chase or I'll cut you"

"Chill Klove" James said, "But, I really want to hang out with you over the holidays. I was wondering if I could come and visit with my family. I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm sorry." We stared at each other for a long moment and then I flung my arms around him.

"Yes! Apology accepted!" I said.

"Ge'off!" James pushed me off and muttered, "Girls" but I could see a smiled slowly creeping across his face.

"Okay. I guess you can come and visit. I was wondering, do you and your family want the big guest room, the family guest room, the small guest room, or just the guest room" I said waving my hands in a motion to match each one.

"Hmm…" James said, "Lily and Albus can have the small guest room. I can have the guest room. And my mom and dad can have the big guest room"

I heard an indignant "Hmph!" from behind us but I ignored it.

**:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

James, Fred the II, Danny, Devin and I all crammed into one train compartment and made use of out last few hours of magic before the break. I shot spurts of flame from the tip of my wand and we traded around disarming one another. It was generally fun. Three times I saw Melissa walk past the compartment door but no one – not even James, paid her any attention. We were too focused on doing fun things with our magic.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Devin commanded and one of her socks floated into the air.

We were having so much fun that we, after a while, noticed that we were hungry and that we had missed the trolley. I stuck my head out of the compartment and looked up and down the train spying the old woman and the trolley trundling along and stopping at each compartment.

"I'll got get some stuff from the trolley" I said to my friends and then, grabbing the money bag of silver sickles and bronze kenuts, I took everyone's order of what they wanted before leaving the compartment and sliding the door shut after me.

There was a gentle _click_ as it closed completely.

I looked around and spotted the trolley, a little farther down than it had been before. I ran towards it.

I had to stop four or five times waiting for people to get out of their compartments or pass me or some other strange reason.

I saw Autumn Kistoverṏv grin at me as I passed her.

I couldn't help but grin back. It was when I reached the trolley when I realized the big mistake I had made. I told the kindly old woman what I would like and she handed it all to me smiling the whole time. I was walking back when I spotted my two least favorite people coming toward me.

Melissa and Alice.

They saw me and walked toward quickly.

As soon as they were close enough Alice said to me, "Oh, eck! Look at what the owls dragged in!"

I smiled and her nicely and said in my sweetest voice, "Look what the train ran over" to my great satisfaction Alice's eyes flared with anger and so did her nostrils. She glared daggers at me. I glared swords and an arsenal of over sharp deadly weapons back.

"Oh Alice what were you saying about mud-bloods? That they don't deserve to go to Hogwarts… or even live?" Melissa inquired.

"I'm a pure blood you idiot" I retorted.

"I think I was saying that" Alice said.

I turned to Alice and put on a face of mock surprise, "You can think?! I didn't know that!"

Alice let out a breath shaking with all the anger of ten thousand years and said, "Well apparently you can't"

"I'm smarter than you!" I snapped.

"Fat chance" Melissa said jumping into the verbal argument. Which I was winning.

"Oh, you too Melissa. I can actually add Best friend plus best friend equals bye-bye you!" I did a little wave with my free hand.

"Yeah right. James wanted to hang out with me because I'm so much prettier than you. I mean, chestnut hair was sooo like never and glasses were like… the same" Melissa said.

"Haha! Like I believe that! Chestnut has always been in, and unlike you, I don't wear a wig. Oh, and FYI, Harry Potter, the guy who killed Voldemort wore glasses and still does, unless you missed that memo!" I said coldly.

"Speak for yourself" Alice said and her and Melissa walked off.

"Jeez. Martin is now Vain" I said, "Oh wait, she's always been"

With that I walked away toward the compartment, I had to spot once in a while to keep the pile of stuff from the trolley balanced, but finally I got there and knocked with my foot. Devin opened the door and let me in. I put the food down and we all began to like crazy.

"What took you so long?" James finally asked.

I shrugged, "I got stuck in a verbal battle which I emerged victorious"

I watched Devin's eyebrow creep up and mouthed at her when no one else was looking, 'Tell you later' I didn't want to down the spirits of the other people in the compartment. We were already having a lot of fun and telling them of my encounter with Alice and Melissa was a real mood dampener.

'Well Klove' I thought to myself, 'you get to spend a whole Christmas without wither of them. This will be fun!'


	12. Ooh! A look into the past

Chapter Eleven

Ooh! A look into the past

"Just so you know James, my mother doesn't approve of you" I told him as we got off the train.

James shrugged, "Well, my parents were already visiting your house over Christmas and the kids had to come so was dragged along to" my eyes widened as I glared at him.

"You filthy liar! I thought _I _was inviting you! Ah well… I don't have to explain you and me being friends to my mum… yet" I said. This somehow was funny to James and he cracked up.

"Anyway, see you soon Klove. And you Devin" he said waving.

He walked away into the crowd as me and Devin looked for the rest of our family.

"Hey. I haven't seen you all year Dev. And only you a little bit Klove" said Carly walking up to us and hugging us both. "The rest of us are in the car already so we better hurt before we're left behind" we both smiled at Carly as she took our hands, which neither of us minded and led us away toward the exit of Platform Nine and Three-Quarters and a littler after that out of Kings Cross Station and into the biting cold winter air of London.

As we walked I pondered why my mum didn't want me to hang out with James. He was nice and fun and had a good sense of humor. So why did my mum not want me to hang out with him? Was it because some passed hurt?

"Carly?" I said.

"Mmm?" Carly answered.

"Has there ever been anyone who you want to be friends with but Mum doesn't approve?" I asked.

"Hmm… not an easy question Klove. Why do you ask?" Carly replied.

"Well, because, I met this boy named James Potter and Mum thinks he's a trouble maker and I need to steer clear of him. I need some help because… he's one of the few friends I have at Hogwarts. And I don't want Mum saying I can't spend time with him anymore" I answered truthfully.

Carly looked thoughtful for a little while but we kept walking, "Klove, what does your heart, your conscious and your mind tell you to do?" she finally said.

I watched her dark ringlets swirl around her head for a long moment, "To spend time with my friends" I finally said.

"I'll tell you two a secret" Carly said, "But you have to hide it from Mum and Dad"

Devin and I looked at each other and said simultaneously, "Okay"

Carly took a deep breath, "When I first went to Hogwarts I met a charming boy in his second year. We became friends. Mum and Dad didn't approve of us being friends because I wouldn't have any other friends in my seventh year. Can you guess who this boy was? Either of you?"

"His name was Teddy Lupin" I said in a sort of trance.

"Correct. And by my fifth year, we were dating. We spent every trip to Hogsmead together and had a lot of fun. I went home for Christmas that year and Teddy stayed there. He didn't want to spend time with Harry and Ginny Potter that year or anyone else. I regretted that choice to go home for the rest of the year. Teddy began to spend time with a seventh year girl named Matilda Martin… and he never spent time with me, or at least not very much time with me after that. I guess Mum and Dad were right"

"Matilda Martin has a younger sister named Melissa" I said slowly.

"Since when do Mum and Dad tell you what to do Carly?" Devin asked.

Carly laughed gently, "They don't Dev. Next year I'll be out of Hogwarts. But Mum and Dad were right. They said in one of their letters that 'Teddy Lupin was no good' and that he would break my heart because he didn't want to date me…"

"I don't believe that for one minute Carly. I saw you two when you walked off in Diagon Ally!" I said reaching back in my memory to when we'd come out of Greengots and Teddy had been waiting chatting with my mother, "And he was talking to Mum!"

"Yes, he was. And we did walk off together. He wanted to show me something at the Potions store and as we walked he explained to me why he'd ignored me for his past few years at Hogwarts. Because I had wanted to know" Carly said quietly.

We were almost out of the station but I didn't want Carly to stop with her story. It wasn't often that Carly opened up to anyone. Her eyes had become more and more guarded as time went on, "And the reason" I prompted.

"Oh, he'd met a girl named Victore and was dating her for his last few years. He'd expressed that he still wanted to be my friend and…" Carly's voice trailed off.

"And…" Devin demanded.

"And he thought maybe we could go out sometime. I told him he was crazy but he admitted that he still liked me and he wasn't actually dating Victore at all. But, when I told Mum and Dad, even though they said it was fine I could tell they disapproved. Teddy is scheduled to take the DADA position next year if Professor Arian doesn't want to continue. And I hope she doesn't for all you guy's sake. She's really tough of seventh years. I pity Avery is she stays on. But Mum and Dad didn't want my siblings to have a predisposition with the new DADA teacher. They said I probably should tell Teddy that he couldn't grade my siblings higher just because. But you think he doesn't know that?" Carly said the last bit all in a rush to get it out before we let the station. She didn't want anyone from out family overhearing on accident. I could see why. She was always so guarded about everything. Why was she telling Devin and me this now? Was it because I had asked?

"So Klove" Carly said, "I chose to follow my heart and my mind and my conscious. They all led the same way. Maybe that's helpful to you" I stared at Carly for a long, long moment struck all of a sudden of how different she looked to me know. She looked prettier, but slightly sad even when she smiled.

"Yes" I said firmly.

"Good," Carly said, "Because we appear to out of time to explain to you what is going on. And remember, you don't always have to come home for Christmas"

"Mum and Dad would say something different" Devin murmured under her breath.

Carly let out a girlish giggle and then laughed out loud. I couldn't help laughing as well. There was something oddly comforting to laugh with my older sister. She wasn't being who she normally was around my brothers.

"OH! There you are! I was afraid you got lost in the station" Dad said walking over to us. He had been standing in front of a black limousine with highly tinted windows, "How are you Carls, Dev, Klover?" he grinned at us.

"Well, I'm good!" I said.

"Me too!" Added Devin happily and we both embraced our father.

"I'm and absolutely positively amazing" Carly said.

"Did you solve that problem with that Melissa Martin?" Dad asked me.

One of Carly's eyebrows crept up and inch but I ignored and said, "Yes, it is resolved completely. It had to do with a teacher, a girl named Autumn Kistoverṏv and a lot of hugging" okay, so maybe I was twisting the story just a bit to fit my needs. But hey!

"Mm-Hmm" Dad said eyeing me closely.

"Let's just get in the car" I said and slipped inside the limo.

Devin followed me inside where are whole family, minus JJ was assorted.

"Hello everyone" I said waving my hand expansively.

"Hello Klove, Devin and Carly" they all echoed, a little creepily.

After we were all in and situated we traded storied about what we'd done during the time we hadn't spent together. As the Limo trundled along our conversation went to Quiddtch, as it always seemed to while we were together.

"I want to be a Seeker or Chaser!" Devin said.

"Chaser" I said.

"Beater" Apollo said, even though he already was one.

Avery said, "Beater" though he was one too.

"Seeker" Artimes said.

"If any, Chaser" Amilea said.

"Keeper" Carly said.

"Beater" Emily said.

"Beater" Emma said.

"Chaser" Vivian said.

JJ was too young to play but he muttered, "Keeper" so softly that none of us really heard him.

We continued to share our experiences until we got far enough away from London to disapperate. It took Mum, Dad, and Carly several trips to get us all through to the house. As soon as Dad said that I could let go of him I headed toward out mansion of a house. To my surprise I saw a car that didn't belong to us parked in the wide driveway that led down toward Godric's Hollow. I smiled when I saw who was leaning against it.

As soon as my Mum had disapperated to get the triplets, I waved to him and walked over. The cool air had made his face almost cherry red and his nose was the most red. I looked over my shoulder and saw that Mum wasn't back yet so I held out one hand.

Just then my Mum appeared and watched my as I shook James's hand and asked in a loud enough voice so it would carry, but no unnaturally loud, "Hello, my name is Klove Walker. I believe we met in Madame Malcolm's robe shop?"

"James Potter" said James, "I believe you are correct" while Mum wasn't looking I slapped James across the face.

"Stupid, I'm _always_ correct!" I said without conviction.

James smirked.

After Mum went inside I chuckled, "We have to pretend like we don't really know each other James, or else" I shuddered, "I have no idea"

James raised his eyebrow, "Trickery and deceit? My specialty!"


	13. Meet the erm… whole family

Chapter twelve

Meet the erm… who family

As James and I walked through the door and into the magnificent entrance hall of our house, Artimes approached us. Her long dark black hair was swept out of her face and braided. Her intelligent grey eyes watched us in an inquisitive fashion.

Then, Artimes smiled, her lips curving up into a hearty laughing grin, "When are you going to tell Mum about you little charade?" she asked her smile becoming wider and wider by the minute. She was laughing at us! The nerve!

"James, I would be uh… pleased to introduce you to my sister Artimes… she's a little… off her nut. You know, likes potions and all…" I said and waved my hand at Artimes. She raised an eyebrow and smiled even wider. If that were possible.

"Yes, I'm off my nut. Crazy. Insane. You know, I like potions. But really guys. When _are_ you going to tell Mum about this?" Artimes said.

"Hopefully, never" I said.

"Hey! 'Sup twin! Klove! And, whoever you are" Apollo was standing at the top of the staircase but as we watched, he jumped onto the banister and slid down landing neatly and flipping his perfect golden hair over his shoulder. He gave us a dazzling smile with his bright white teeth.

From up above Amilea's shout nearly shook the floor of the house – I mean in a completely hypothetical type of way, not literally – "APOLLO! YOU DIRTY- URG! WHEN I FIND YOU, YOU ARE SOOOOOOO DEAD! APOLLO! WHERE ARE YOU! GRRRRRR!"

Apollo gave us another dazzling smiled, really his teeth need to come with a sign that says '_if you look directly at teeth, it may cause temporary or permanent blindness along with feeling dazed, lightheaded or nauseas_' "That's my cue. I gotta get out of here before Amilea finds me. I… well, anyway! Please don't tell her where I went!" he said before he scrambled off toward the kitchen where Tristan was probably cooking… something. Like, dinner.

"Apollo! APOLLO! What did you do this time?" Artimes demanded and ran after her twin.

"Sooo…" I said, "That was Apollo. Um… right this way for the next part of the tour. Maybe we'll meet some more of my crazy family…"

James laughed and I couldn't help but join in.

What? It _was_ amusing.

Just then a sharp whistle blew.

"Oh, well, you get to meet my crazy family all at once then" I said cheerily. Dad was calling.

"And you probably get to meet mine" James said.

We both sprinted – with me in the lead, and yes, we were indoors – toward the dining room, and where our families were waiting.

**::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::;**

"Carly" Carly said stepping forward and holding out her hand to Mr. Harry Potter, Mrs. Ginny Potter, Lilly Potter, Albus Potter, and James Potter, and, to my utmost surprise, Fred the II as we found out their names were. I tried to remain blissfully ignorant of James and who in the world of Wizards and Muggles alike he was, however, every once in a while my guard would slip down and I'd have to catch myself.

Each in turn we introduced ourselves.

"Avery"

"Amilea"

"Apollo"

"Artimes"

"Devin"

"Klove" when I said my name James winked at me and I couldn't help smiling the slightest bit.

"Emily"

"Emma"

"Vivian"

"JJ"

"Yes. Nice to meet all of you" Mr. Potter said, "And nice to see you again" he motioned to Mum and Dad.

"I agree Harry. It's been a long time" Mum said.

"Well, are we all going to stand here? Or are we going to have a little fun?" Mrs. Potter asked.

"Shall we have some fun? Kids, I suppose you can go have some fun. The Brooms are in the cupboard under the stairs" Mum said.

"That brings back bad memories" Mr. Potter said darkly and all the adults laughed.

"Grownups" Devin muttered.

James and I both laughed and both our mothers shot us looks that clear said 'Don't laugh'

"C'mon James, Albus, Lilly, Freddy!" I said.

"I'm not Freddy, it's just Fred!" Fred said.

"Whatever" I said, "So, do all of us kids want to play Quidditch?"

**:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

After we'd all figured out which position we would hold we went out to the back yard. If your people are wondering, our positions go as follows:

**TEAM ONE**

**Keeper – Carly**

**Seeker – Artimes **

**Chasers – Lilly, Albus, Amilea **

**Beaters – Emily, Emma**

**TEAM TWO**

**Keeper – Fred **

**Seeker – James**

**Chasers – Devin, Vivian, me**

**Beaters – Avery, Apollo**

After we got everything ready and were prepared to take off, Carly sent JJ into the house to get pen and paper so he could record what the score was and who was on each team. He was our commentator. Carly had the good grace to give him a microphone so we could hear him.

"But what about goal posts?" James finally asked.

"Oh! I almost forgot. Mum and Dad usually do this but I can give it a shot" Carly said and pulled out her wand again and said, "Accio hoops" almost at the same time six silver hoops exited from a window somewhere in the middle of the mansion and landed in Carly's outstretched hand.

"But they're tiny!" Lilly said.

"Watch" Emma replied coldly. I got the feeling she didn't like Lilly.

"Relax Emma" Vivian said putting her hand on her twin's shoulder.

Carly set the hoops up at a good 100 yards apart and then pointed at each on calling out, "Engorio!" the hoops grew bigger and bigger and bigger until they were tall enough for a good game of Quidditch. Carly returned and mounted her broom.

"See?" Emily said to Lilly.

Carly quickly drew up some balls out of thin air with her want and gave them to JJ to release into the air.

JJ yelled because he couldn't whistle and we were off.

JJ's voice rang out loudly across the field, "And Klove with the Quaffle. She passes it to Vivian! Ooh, that has to hurt!" Vivian had just been hit in the stomach from an oncoming bludger sent my Emma. I had the strangest feeling that the bludger had been aimed to hit Lilly who had now grabbed the quaffle. JJ continued, "Lilly in possession of the quaffle. She passes to Albus who passes back to her. Lilly throws at the goal hoops and it is deflected by Fred! Now Devin has the quaffle! She's going to throw! She throws and she… SCORES! Carly, you need to get you game on!" Carly gave him a death glare from up on her broom. She was busy trying to wave of a glint of gold near her head that kept distracting her. Oh. OH! James, who had just flown passed me and hadn't seen it, looked at me when I passed the quaffle to Vivian – who had recovered from the bludger – and I waved my hands.

I pointed at the snitch desperately and James got it. Then he yelled "Klove duck!" I rolled on my broom and a bludger sailed over my head.

"Thanks for the heads up James" I said and zipped off to where Vivian and Devin were playing a quick fingered game of pass the quaffle right in front of all the other team's Chasers. I zipped up from underneath and snatched the quaffle mid throw, zooming toward the goals.

James was after the snitch now and Carly wasn't distracted. She flicked the quaffle away easily and I raced after it before I was nearly knocked off my broom by a bludger. Lilly and Albus grappled for it before Lilly gave in and Albus threw it at the goals.

"And Fred blocks again! Maybe he should consider joining the house team!" JJ said. He was really getting into it. "Now Vivian with the quaffle and she passes it to Devin! Oh! Would you look at that! James and Artimes neck in neck for the snitch! Look! Oh! Artimes is faster! She's about to grab it. Oh! Watch out! A bludger sent by Avery! Artimes falls behind! Anyway, Devin with the quaffle, heading toward the goal posts! And she misses badly!" I looked down and saw James's hand almost completely closed around the snitch!

Everyone drew in their breath and then Artimes snatched it from right under James's nose.

"AND THE GAME ENDS!" JJ calls, "Team one wins by literally a hare's breath!"

I heard James yelling something to the effect of, "WIZARDS AND MUGGLES ALIKE SHE IS GOOD!" I couldn't tell if it was in anger or admiration but as I touched down I gave James a high-five.

"That was pretty good" Artimes said walking over, "You have the makings of a Seeker. But here" Artimes opened her hand and put dropped the golden snitch into James's hand, "I want you to keep it. in your fourth year, try out for the team and you'll most definitely get on it!"

James closed his fist around the still wiggling snitch, "Thanks!" he said.

I looked at him and put my arm over his shoulder, "So, when do you think _I _should try out for the Gryffondor Team James…?"


	14. Christmas morn

Chapter Thirteen

Christmas morn

I tried to open my eyes against the tiredness that paraded my brain. Someone was shouting. No several people were shouting. OH! Why could they not just shut up and let me sleep.

"WAKE UP KLOVE! MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

It had been a week since the Potter's arrived and we had all gone shopping for presents.

We had played one more game of Quidditch and in general have fun.

Teddy Lupin had come over and James and I had caught them snogging under the mistletoe. After that we'd spent thirty minutes gagging at the mere thought of romance. It had been hilarious to see Mum's face when she found out.

"KLOVE! UP!"

My eyes shot open and I was about to make a snappy – and witty – retort, when I saw Devin and James standing there.

"What is _he_ doing in the girls' bedroom?" I asked groggily.

"I dunno" Devin said, "James, what _are_ you doing in the girls' bedroom?"

James shrugged, "I just came to say it's almost breakfast time and then present time!"

I gasped.

"Oh! I forgot today was Christmas!" I said.

"I'll bet you did!" Devin said.

"Shut up!" I snapped, "And James Dearie, GET OUT OF MY ROOM!"

James went scurrying away and I got out of bed, took a quick shower, opted to not try my hair, cleaned my glasses, and got dressed in a black long sleeve shirt with a cute Santa Claus, some jeans with a few red embroidered flowers by the left pocket, and some penguin socks.

I was finally ready to go down to breakfast! And it had only taken me twenty minutes to do it all!

When I got down the stairs James and Devin were waiting for me.

"Took you long enough" James said.

I sniffed primly, "Just twenty minutes James"

"Yeah right" James muttered but as soon as I smacked him hard on the back of the head he admitted it hadn't taken that long.

"Good" I said, "I wonder was Tristan has whipped up for us today?"

"Probably something good" Devin said.

"I just want something to each" James muttered.

We entered the dining room to find everybody but Amilea was there. Even Teddy Lupin was there. Dad had calmed Mum down about never showing his presence in this house again but she looked smoldering from the other end of the table.

"I wonder if Evan is coming?" I thought out loud, recalling Amilea's boyfriend.

James shrugged and then said, "Who's Evan?"

"Amy's boyfriend" Devin muttered.

"Dev, how many times had she told you not to call her that?" I asked.

Devin shrugged, "Y'all gonna get the same answer" and then she sat down at one of the five empty seats. I sat down too followed by James and then Amilea who entered just as I had sat.

"Mum" I asked, "Who is the last seat for?"

Mum stopped her glaring at Teddy and looked up at me, "Oh! Darling. I didn't notice you come in! Good Morning. The extra chair is for a friend of Harry, Ginny, your father, and I. She headed our house you know!" Mum said. She smiled at me and went back to her glaring at Teddy.

"Okay…" I said, "I'll be in the kitchen helping Tristan"

I got up and walked toward the kitchen. James abruptly stood up and, "I think I'll join you"

As we entered the kitchen, James guffawed. "D-did you see her face Klove?"

I nodded.

"But who do you think this special guest is?" I finally asked turning serious.

"The headmistress of your school" Tristan said. We'd forgotten about him but he was cooking something in the oven that smelled heavenly.

"McGonagall?" I asked.

James frowned, "I do remember my father telling me about the head of our house being McGonagall. That was when Albus Dumbledore was in charge of Hogwarts"

"Albus? Like your brother?" I asked.

"Yep" James said.

"Interesting" I said, "So Tristan, anything we can help with?"

Tristan shook his head, "No Miss Walker. I think I'll do fine by myself. Maybe… I need someone to carry all the dishes to the main room. How about you and your friend and your sister, wherever she got off to, carry some of these plates to the dining room!"

I nodded and grabbed two plates. I nudged open the door and entered the dining room.

After about eight or nine trips with Devin, Vivian, James, Emily, Lilly, Albus, and Emma helping, we were finally done with ferrying the food from the kitchen to the now groaning table. Just then there came a knock at the door and I ran to answer it.

When the door swung open I saw Professor McGonagall standing and looking imperious.

"Hello Ms. Walker" she said, "May I come in?"

I nodded dumbly and stepped aside so our headmistress could enter. I gaped at her.

"Oh shut your mouth child. You might swallow a fly" McGonagall said.

I shut my mouth.

**::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::;**

"Present time!" Artimes called a few hours later after we'd all eaten our fill.

As it turned out Professor McGonagall had many good tales to tell and we all enjoyed listening to her talk no matter how severe her voice was. But something nagged at the back of my mind. And then I remembered the Phantom.

As present time we all opened out presents (Obviously).

I got a video camera! And a new broom stick! A Falling Star 870 I am proud to say! Honestly, my Nimbus 2000 was getting pretty old. I'd had it since I was five. What is that… six years? They'd been around for eighteen years and were considered as a Comet 360 might have been considered when my parents were at school.

I smiled at James and while my Mum was in the other room I hugged him. His gift had been a locket. I put it around my neck. Mrs. Potter chuckled and I looked at her expectantly.

"You are such a good actor Klove" she finally said.

"Why thank you" I said.

"Now Klove, please get off me!" James said and pushed me away. I put my hand up before he could say anything.

"I know, James. 'Girls'" I said. Mr. Potter nodded in approval.

Mum came back in then and looked at everyone like 'What'd I miss?'

Our festivities were paused when there was a letter delivered from an owl. Mum and Dad read it and both of them both looked pale.

"What is it?" Avery asked.

"Gran Bertha is sick with and she wants me and your father to go at once to her estate in Paris. I'm sorry everyone. But we have to go" Mum said shakily.

"We can take care of everyone with some of Tristan's help" Mrs. Potter said kindly, "Now off you go"

"Mum, are you sure you can handle this?" Albus asked.

Mrs. Potter gave a quelling look to her second son and then smiled at Mum.

"Okay" Mum finally said and kissed each of us goodbye (Just our family) and then diapperated on the spot with Dad.

"Teddy, I wonder if we should leave and see if any stores are open today" Carly said and they both stood up.

"I'll be going over and seeing Evan at one!" Amilea said.

Mrs. Potter smiled and rolled up her sleeves.

"This should be fun shouldn't be Harry? The DA 'member?"

Mr. Potter laughed, "Not quite"

"The DA?" Emily asked.

"Em!" the rest of our family that was in the room cried.

"Hmm. No, it's fine" Mrs. Potter said, "Do you want to hear the story of the DA?"

We all nodded.

"Well, it began in my fourth year, Harry's fifth. We had a new DADA teacher named Deloris Umbrage from Ministry. She was really mean. She never let us use magic. Now mind you that this is after Voldemort came back to power" we all knew who Voldemort was, "Anyway, Hermione came up with the idea that we needed to form an organization and a teacher that would teach us how to defend ourselves and we elected Harry to be our teacher"

"And this was after our other four DADA teachers. One was… guy with two faces. The next cast a memory charm on himself and is still in St. Mungos. The next one was a werewolf" Mr. Potter said. I looked around at Teddy Lupin who was leaning against the doorway with Carly. "Named Remus Lupin"

Teddy raised his hand, "My dad" he said.

"Yes, and one who turned out to be an imposter who was working for Voldemort" Mr. Potter finished.

"_ANYWAY_" Mrs. Potter continued, "DA stands for Dumbledore's Army. We eventually went to the Ministry and wrecked the whole Hall of Prophecy in the Department of Mysteries" Mrs. Potter said smiling at the memory.

"You should've seen Fudge's face!" Mr. Potter said.

"Fudge?" I asked.

"The old minster of magic" Mr. Potter explained.

"Ah!" I said.

"I miss those days…" Mrs. Potter said.

Mr. Potter looked directly at me then and said, "If you ever need to have a place to hide something or need something really bad, like a place to practice, go to the seventh floor and walk past the blank wall across from the tapestry with the trolls doing the ballet. Think about your question hard and walk back and forth three times"

I nodded just slightly.

What did he mean by that?

I didn't know but I chose not to think too much about it.

It was Christmas!

Why not have fun?


	15. The Conspiracy

Chapter fourteen

The Conspiracy

The rest of the days of Christmas break passed quickly. Mum and Dad weren't back from Paris and I was sad they were here to see us off but Mr. and Mrs. Potter took us to the station and that was good enough for me.

James and I pushed our trunks onto the luggage rack and I plunked down on the seat and rested by head on the window. I sighed in contentment. Something fluttered down from my trunk and I picked it up. It was a piece from the newspaper I had gotten at the beginning of the year. With the piece about the escaped Death Eaters.

I read it aloud to James.

"The Ministry of Magic has experienced a rather nasty shock as the un-escapable wizard prison Azkaban has been broken out of. Every Death Eater in prison block Ninety-Eight had escaped but their most worried are the Death Eaters Catharus McGarmic and Edmund Garcia. The female's name and classification is classified to all who are normal wizards. All these wizards went to jail about seventeen years ago. All for crimes of serving a dark wizard known to us as The Dark Lord, or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. They have killed several families and people are warned to steer clear of them if seen and do not engage them in combat. Many more wanted Death Eaters are pouring out of Azkaban and the Ministry of Magic can't seem to stop the tidal wave. If they don't stop it soon almost all of the Dark Lord's remaining army will be released into the world to commit more crimes. Stay away and report any sightings of these wizards. Do not engage. Though their master is dead they are still dangerous and will try to kill you on sight most likely"

"And?" James said.

"I dunno. It seems like a bad open that this particular thing should fall out of my trunk at this particular time" I said shrugging.

I looked back down at the paper and I watched as certain phrases popped out at me:

The Ministry of Magic has experienced a rather nasty shock as the **un-escapable** wizard prison Azkaban has been broken out of. **Every Death Eater in prison block Ninety-Eight had escaped** but their most worried are the Death Eaters **Catharus McGarmic** and **Edmund Garcia**. **The female's name** and **classification** is **classified** to all who are normal wizards. All these wizards went to jail about **seventeen years ago**. All for crimes of serving a dark wizard known to us as **The Dark Lord**, or **He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named**. They have **killed **several families and people are warned to **steer clear** of them if seen and do not engage them in combat. Many **more wanted Death Eaters are pouring out of Azkaban** and the Ministry of Magic can't seem to stop the tidal wave. If they don't stop it soon almost all of the Dark Lord's remaining army will be released into the world to commit more crimes. **Stay away and report any sightings of these wizards**. Do not engage. Though their master is dead they are still dangerous and will try to **kill you on sight most likely**.

"What are you thinking Klove?" James asked.

I shrugged and looked down the rest of the paper. The pictures that moved. And a small article about Kina Winchell getting more successful at the ministry and a picture of a pasty face woman next to that article. Then, I noticed something that I hadn't seen at first glance. It was under the ad for, _Pia's Wizarding Wedding Arrangements_. It was short, only a few lines but it said:

_Woman insane?_

I decided to read it because I had nothing else to do and when I'd finished I looked up at James. "James, listen to this particular article. I missed it the first time!"

"I'm listening" James said.

"An old woman named Veronica Carson, at age 89, has already graduated Hogwarts with best grades in Divination. Her original goal was to become an Auror however she didn't get high enough grades. She was in Huffelpuff and never taken seriously by anyone. Miss Rita Skeeter went to Ms. Carson's house to interview her for a book called, _What Was Hogwarts before the War. _Veronica's granddaughter Tina Carson is going to school right now. The interview when smoothly until Ms. Skeeter asked about what Ms. Carlson thought of the Dark Lord having been at power twice. "Her voice became all raspy then" Ms. Skeeter says when we interviewed her last Saturday, "And she said, _The Phantom stalks softly but treads loudly, the Myth will come true, the Elder Wand to who it belongs to will find, a way to vanquish whoever has returned to this world_. It is all a bunch of nonsense and hogwash if you ask me!" we cannot hope to know what this means, however, our suspicions are that the years doing Divination have muddled her brain. The Ministry is looking further into it now" I read the entire article and then looked up at James, "I don't think that Ms. Veronica Carson was insane" I finally said.

We had left the station now and were speeding along, the country side whizzing by the train. I wished it would go slower.

"Probably nothing" James said.

"Right…" I said but the truth was, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that something was going to go wrong.

**:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

It wasn't until we got back to Hogwarts and had spent about a month there did I figure out what was going on that I didn't like.

First things first though, I am a troublemaker, maybe because James had no negative effect on me, however, I will prank you while your head is the other way and then you'll find your wand is in a tree… ah… that would actually be a good one!

Anyway, I wasn't out of bed late, well, not really.

I was walking down the corridor, alone, when I heard voices around the corner.

"Now!" said one.

"But master, the best time will be at the end of the year, when no one will notice if I slip off for just a few minutes… please, give me until then" said the other voice. I drew in a breath. The voice belonged to Professor Arian.

"Very well, you have until the end of this year, but then, I will insist you open the passage for Catharas so he can come and find the item!" said the first voice. I tried to place where I had heard it before. I couldn't. It was a completely unknown threat. When it spoke again I almost missed it, "Arian, you have served me well, and do you remember where the tunnel is?" it was a soft hissing warning that she was not as good as she thought.

"Yes! Of course. It is on the bottom floor of the dungeon, deep below the school. I will put up obstacles for others to disturb me during that time. It will take place on May the eighteenth. I will see Catharas then…" Professor Arian said. I realized that the conversation was over a little too late.

Professor Arian rounded the corner and I flattened myself against the wall, willing myself to be invisible. And then, the DADA teacher passed me right by and walked smoothly away from me. I waited. And waited. Just standing there petrified.

Then, I summoned up the will to get up and round the corner. There was no one there. I looked about and out a window. I saw pale blue mist slowly dissipating in the air. What was going on?

I decided to go back to the Gryffondor common room and go to bed because it _was_ getting late.

As I ran through the corridors I saw no one. I reached the portrait whole, hissed the password to the Fat Lady, and slipped through without a backwards glance. I collapsed on the couch in front of the fire and closed my eyes just for a second.

"Klove! Klove! Wake up! You'll never believe this" James shouted at me. I blinked several times and then opened my eyes fully.

"What is it James?" I asked.

"Look" he shoved something under my nose.

I shoved it away and sat upright. I was still on the couch and still in my robes from yesterday.

"Look" James repeated and handed it to me.

There was a letter and a parcel in my hands. The parcel had already been opened to reveal a silky silvery cloak. I tore my eyes away from the cloak and quickly read the letter.

_James_

_My father had this. And I see fit that it is yours now. Professor Dumbledore sent it to me in my first year at Hogwarts. I found it very useful while I was there. And not just for good purposes. Your mother might not completely approve however I think it is time I pass it on. _

_Dad_

_P.S. use it well._

"So?" I asked.

"Look at this" James picked up the cloak and draped it over his arm which turned invisible along with the cloak.

"It's an invisibility cloak" I said and then looked around the common room. It was empty. "I wish I'd had one of those last night" I continued thinking back to what I had overheard. Professor Arian might have caught me. By chance I had escaped.

"What do you mean?" James asked.

Then I explained to him all about what I had overheard.

"Probably nothing" James said.

"Right" I muttered. But secretly, in my mind, I was formulation how to follow Professor Arian down into the dungeon. And James's new cloak would help me along.


	16. May 18th and Exams

Chapter fifteen

May 18th and Exams

The year at Hogwarts was whizzing by faster than I could keep track of. Soon it was spring and Devin, James and I would spend our time out on the warm green grass in front of the castle. There was a tree down by the lake that we sat under.

James would spend time playing with the snitch Artimes had given him back at Christmas while Devin and I tried to study for our upcoming exams. While James had been at the Hospital Wing because of a high fever, Devin and I had discussed my plan to figure out what Professor Arian was planning.

After I had told my twin about it she was totally onboard with me.

But I couldn't spend too much time thinking about my plan because I had to study. I saw Carly more and more at the library and, every once in a while we'd all get together. Except for Amilea who was hanging out with her "More sophisticated friends"

Finally it was May 10th, when the end of year Exams was set to begin. We all gathered together for our written Exam and then our practical exam would be later that day.

It was Potions today.

After we had all filed into the Great Hall I noticed that it looked completely different. The normal four long tables had been replaced with hundreds of wooden desks. I could see the dust floating in the air, illuminated by the early afternoon light streaming through the window at the other end of the hall.

Professor Slughorn gave us instructions and then gave us one hour to complete our paper.

I looked down at the piece of parchment in front of me. Twenty questions. Okay.

#1:_ Where would you look if you needed to find a bezoar? _ _

#2: _Who found many different uses for Wolf's Bane? _ _ _

#3: _What is the name of liquid luck? _ __

#4: _What are the basic ingredients in a simple antidote? __

Okay.

I could do this. Just tackle the questions four at a time.

Question #1. Where would you look if you needed to find a bezoar? Simple. I dipped my quill in the pot of ink that was beside my parchment and touched it to the yellowing paper. I began to write the answer to the question.

_I would look in the stomach of a goat. You would find a bezoar there._

Next question. #2. Who found many different uses for Wolf's Bane? Oh. That was easy.

_Albus Dumbledore_

Right. I found my palms were sweaty. #3. What is the name of liquid luck?

_Felix Falises _

#4.

_The Ingredients to a simple Antidote are: Lace Wing Powder, Eye of Newt, Snake Scales, Fire weed roots, and Jumper Berries._

I looked at the next question.

#5: _What is the use of a bezoar? __

I wrote down the answer.

_A bezoar, found in the stomach of a goat can be used to clear most potent poisons and is an excellent this to have around in case anyone gets poisoned. _

I continued to look at the questions and wright down my answers to the over and over again. Fifteen minutes went by and I had answered thirteen questions. Thirty minutes had gone by. I had answered seventeen of the questions. Forty-five five minutes had gone by and I had finished my paper. I still had some time so I went back and elaborated on my answers to certain questions a little bit more. Some needed it. Others didn't.

When I had finished my test completely I stood up and walked to the front of the room where Professor Slughorn was waiting. A few other students had finished their papers already and had left the room. I spotted James and then Danny and finally Devin.

"Here" I murmured to Professor Slughorn and left the hall to wait in the Entrance Hall for James.

As I got out my eyes fell upon Alice Vain and Melissa Martin. Apparently, they had already finished their tests and were lazing about on the marble stairs.

"Walker" Alice said and beckoned me over.

I found my feet carrying me there.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"I wanted to say good luck with your exams. You're going to need it" Alice said and they both laughed.

I looked at Alice and said sincerely, "Good luck to you too. I hope that you get an O" then I turned away and walked up the stairs a little way to sit and wait.

Fred had also finished and came to sit next to me.

"Hey, how do you think you did?" he asked.

"Hmm… I think I might barely scrape by with an A" I said thoughtfully, "And you?"

"I might just get an E" Fred said. His bright red hair was lit up in the sun light which gave the illusion that his head was on fire.

"Good for you" I said.

"May I sit?" Fred asked.

"Sure" I said shrugging.

Fred sat down.

"Do you think Professor Arian is… weird? She's been acting strange lately. During my detention she left me alone in her office and went off somewhere. Naturally I followed her and overheard her talking to someone" Fred confessed.

I looked at Fred. Now or never. "What did she say?" I asked.

"Something like, 'Master, I am almost ready. I have been flitting down there and putting protective charms over the area. But I have not had the chance to slip down there long enough to open the passage' I think that was it" Fred said.

"Interesting" I said. Then I explained about overhearing the other conversation with her and the other thing that had turned into blue mist. Then I told Fred about my plan to go into the dungeon and try to stop Professor Arian from doing whatever she was doing.

"Count me in!" Fred said, "I can even get James's invisibility cloak!"

"Great" I said. I was partly relieved that I didn't have to sneak into the boys' dormitory.

Just then James came out and I muttered to Fred, "You can't tell James about this. He doesn't think anything is wrong" Fred nodded in agreement.

**:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

"I want you to display the spells that the examiners ask you to do. No objections. Any questions?" Professor Arian strode back and forth in front of the line of students in the Great Hall. Ten of us. It was out DADA practical exam.

My examiner, a pretty young woman with pale blonde haywire hair and bright, bright blue eyes. She smiled reassuringly at me, "My name is Marcie Lute. Please Ms. Um…"

"Walker" I said.

"Please Ms. Walker. The minor fire spell. Point it over there" she pointed to an area to the left of her and then stepped behind me.

I pulled up all the emotions I had been feeling the last few days and said, "Pyro" in a strong commanding voice. Fire spurted from the tip of my wand and filled the area where I was supposed to aim it. Marcie Lute clapped her hands enthusiastically.

"Wonderful. Now the basic disarming charm"

"Expiliamus!"

The exam went on and on like this testing my knowledge base and my skills in casting the hexes, charms, and jinxes that I had been learning all year.

Finally it was over and I was free to go.

I stepped outside the Great Hall and all my other thoughts assailed me at once.

It was the 18th of May. My plan had to be put into action tonight.

James got up to go into the chamber his name was called.

"Good luck" I said to him.

"Thanks" he said.

Devin and Fred, who had been in the same exam as I had been caught up with me.

"Are you ready for tonight?" I asked.

"Devin and Fred nodded and said in unison, "Yep"

**:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

I threw James's cloak over Devin, Fred and myself as soon as we had exited the Portrait Hole. It was hard at first to get the same walking speed; however, soon we prevailed and made our way down through the many corridors.

When we reached the entrance to the dungeon I felt the familiar chill that always assailed me when I came to this place on the stairs. I paused for a moment listening.

Devin and Fred rammed into my and we nearly lost our balance. At the last moment we regained it.

"Klove" Fred said, "I did leave something behind in the boys' dormitory. In James's trunk. A note that tells him what is going on and if were not back by May 19th, he should alert the teacher's" I could feel Fred's sheepishness.

"No worries Fred. You were probably right to do that" I assured him. I wasn't angry. Instead I felt reassured that someone would know what happened to us if something went wrong. I knew something might.

We were just three first year wizards who had no idea what we were doing.

What is Professor Arian attacked us?

I tried not to think about that. Instead I forged ahead with Devin and Fred behind me. With that, we descended into the gloom.


	17. At the Crossroads

Chapter sixteen

At the Crossroads

The blackness engulfed us and the three of us were forced to light out wands as we descended. I hoped beyond hope that the light didn't shine through James's cloak. I almost felt sorry for James. But he hadn't believed us so…

We made our way down the stairs deeper and deeper into the dungeon until Devin said that we needed to stop and rest. I wasn't out of breath, far from it. But my feet hurt a lot and I was feeling slightly snappish.

Just as we sat down, a saw a mouse scuttle across the floor. This didn't surprise me one bit, however, what happened next did. As soon as the little creature reached about a foot away from where I was sitting, fire shot through the corridor.

I yelped and jumped back so I wouldn't get singed.

"What in the Blazes!" I said. Then I quickly muttered, "No pun intended"

"How do we get past?" Devin asked puzzled.

"Where did the fire come from? Fred asked.

"I don't know!" I snapped, "Probably something that Professor Arian did"

Devin answered, "There" and she pointed to the floor. When she did I saw a thin crack in the step.

I blinked.

"I wonder…" I said standing up and pointing my wand at the crack, "Agumenti!" a jet of water spurted from my wand completely wetting the step. I broke off a few on my hairs hand tossed them over the Fire Jet.

Nothing happened.

I took a tentative step forward and no fire scolded me into ash.

"Agumenti! Agumenti! Agumenti!" I sent jets of water wetting the steps where we were going. Then I beckoned for the cloak to be put back over the three of us, "C'mon. Let's go" I said and began to walk down the now dripping steps.

We were almost there – at the bottom floor of the dungeon, deep beneath the castle – when we encountered our other challenge. I had been sending water jets of water across the steps to make sure we were incinerated along the way.

We stepped onto the last flight of stairs when the ceiling rumbled.

"Get out of the way" Devin said pushing Fred and I back up the stairs and running after us.

Rock fall.

The stones crashed to the ground and dust filled the air. Some debris struck me. One made a long and semi deep scrape right above my eyebrow. I used my wrist to wide away the warm blood that trickled down the side of my face.

"Fred? Devin?" I called out before the dust settled.

"Here" I heard Fred called.

"Here" Devin called but her voice wasn't quite right.

"Devin!" I said, "Are you okay?"

I heard Devin groan, "Nope. My ankle is under a chunk of rock" she said.

"Wait there. We'll find you" I said.

"Not going anywhere if I could!" Devin said.

I felt a hand grip mine and knew it was Fred. Together we struggled forward over the rubble. Devin would say stuff to us so we could find her. The dust was settling though and our work became steadily easier.

We found Devin. She's lied that it had just been her ankle stuck under the rock. Her whole leg was pinned down. I winced and tried to move the stone on my twin's leg. Fred joined me and =, after a lot of trouble, we moved the stone off her.

Devin let out a small whimpering sound.

"Fred." I commanded, "I want you to take Devin back up and find the teachers. I want you to alert them. Something is going on here and I don't like it. I'll take James's cloak. It will only be a hindrance to you" I looked at Devin, "Do you think you can make it all the way back up?"

"I can try" Devin said, "But-!"

"Good" I said interrupting her.

"Wait! You can't just go and find Professor Arian alone!" Fred said.

"The teachers will come and help once you warn them" I said. But I was feeling doubtful of that.

"Fred… come on… I think I might pass out if I don't find a doctor" Devin said. She looked pale and her face was tight with pain.

"Okay. Fine" Fred said.

I leaned down and gave Devin a squeeze around her shoulders and shook hands with Fred.

"I'll be okay" I said before turning on my heel and throwing the invisibility cloak over me.

I doubted I would come out fine but I pretended. The sounds of Devin and Fred faded behind me as I descended further and further. If Arian beat me in a duel, which was very likely, I didn't think that the teachers could get down here fast enough.

I reached the bottom of the stairs and found myself in a long corridor. I began to walk, as sneakily as I could, down the stone hallway and towards the end of it. The corridor swerved to my right and then to my left and then to my right again. And then I could see Professor Arian.

As soon as a came within twenty feet of the witch, fire sprung up behind me blocking my way of escape.

"Hello Klove Walker" Arian said turning toward me. Her eyes were cold and unforgiving. Her face was stuck in a snarl, "Nice of you to join me. Unfortunately, you've come too late. The delay with you sister was too long"

"You heard that?" I asked.

"Yes. Interesting what I can hear" Arian said stroking the wall next to her.

"I won't let you open the passageway!" I said.

"Oh. You know about that" Arian said smoothly, "Very well. May I explain my plan before I kill you?"

"Okay…" I said but I felt like I couldn't say no.

"Very well" Arian said, "My plan, no… not mine… _his_ plan…" the way she said 'his' with such reverence and worship of the word made me step back slightly, "Is to open this secret passageway. Another must fetch the wand. Another must do the spell. But… I have my purpose. I am content with it. I will open it to let my college in. The Lord of Shadows commands it. _He_ commands what I do… he has been talking to me for the whole year… and I have been listening!" Arian laughed – a cruel and high pitched laugh – and smiled a chilling smiled, "I am a Death Eater! I escaped the wizard prison called Azkaban! He commands what I do! Lord Voldemort commands it!"

"Impossible" I cried, "Voldemort is dead!"

"YOU DARE! YOU DARE! You dirty his glorious name with you unworthy tongue! You are a fool to speak it! YOU DARE! YOU DARE! You will die before you will see his glorious ascent! His magnificent rise! But he _will_ rise!" Arian screamed at me. She drew out her wand, "The opening of the tunnel will have to wait! AVADA KADAVRA!"

I dove out of the way, hitting the ground hard as a jet of green light sailed over my head, missing me by maybe an inch. My glasses were knocked from my nose and I had to scramble to get them back on my nose.

"Expeliamus!" I cried but Arian easily deflected my spell lazily.

"Incendio!" the psychotic woman screamed.

"Agumenti!" I cried and the jet of fire was blocked by my feeble spray of water, "Bring it on!" I yelled and ran at Arian.

I side kicked her and then punched her in the shoulder. She doubled over.

"You are strong in the ways of muggle fighting!" she wheezed.

"Well, yeah. My dad wanted more boys" I said and kneed her in the stomach.

Arian groaned and dropped her wand. She grabbed my shoulders and pushed me against the wall. I punched her again but somehow, Arian managed to catch my arm. With her other hand she struck me across the face. She yanked my arm hard my whole world turned red. I must've been screaming bloody murder but I couldn't hear anything but my heart beat.

I collapsed to the ground.

Finally when my hearing and vision returned, I saw Arian's wand pointed straight at my face. She was laughing coldly.

"So, the only one which the school sends is defeated" she said.

"Wait." I said.

"What?" Arian snapped.

"Professor. You are at a crossroads" I didn't know where the words were coming from, "you are starting to go down one path… but it's not too late to turn back and take the other path… trust me and don't do this" I tried to shake my head. I could taste blood in my mouth.

"I don't need your advice. _He_ will guide me" Arian said.

I tried to speak but no words came out.

"Defeated. Hogwarts mighty champion! An eleven year old! Ha! Hogwarts is weak!" Arian said kicking me in the ribs.

"Really?" said a sharp voice that was vaguely familiar. This was the last thing I heard before drifting into unconsciousness.


	18. The Charade Ends

Chapter seventeen

The charade ends

I opened my eyes and gasped loudly sitting up very fast. I felt faint and dropped back onto the fluffy white pillow. Wait… I fluffy white pillow?

"She's awake" somebody said.

"Obviously Amy!" said a voice that I immediately recognized as Devin.

"Devin! How many times have I told you not to call me that!" said the other voice that I assumed was Amilea.

"Honey, are you okay?" Definitely Mum. I found a warm hand touch my forehead and I relaxed.

I rolled onto my side and looked at my family with the exception of Vivian, Emma, Emily, and JJ.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Fred came running out of the dungeon screaming that you'd gone to stop Professor Arian by yourself!" Carly said, "Then, all the teachers and a few seventh years ran down and found Arian standing over you. McGonagall captured her and sent her off to Azkaban"

I shook my head, "She won't stay in there for long" I said.

"What do you mean?" Avery asked.

"Well, before we dueled, she told me that she served Voldemort" I said, "And that he's rising again. There is something in this very castle that he wants…" I thought back to the Phantom and remembered what Arian said.

"_The Lord of Shadows commands it" _

"He was here. Voldemort. He's a Phantom" I said.

"Are you sure that you're feeling alright darling?" Mum asked.

"Fine Mum! Danny can vouch for that! The Phantom I mean!" I said.

"Shoo! She needs her rest!" Madame Pomfry came over and began to reprimand my family.

A little while after they left James came and visited me.

"You stupid, stupid girl" he said.

I gave him a scathing look, "You didn't think it was a big deal" I replied.

"Yeah, but you went and got yourself hurt and-!" James said.

"So you care if I injure myself?" I said slyly.

"I' you best friend Klove. Of course I care" James said.

"Good" I said.

"So, this means you're going to stop me from hanging out with Melissa aren't you?" James said.

"James, let me tell you from the deepest depths of my heart that, yes, you will not be allowed to hang out Melissa Martin" I said.

"Thought so" James said.

I gave him the thumbs up, "to be simple, you betcha'!"

**:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

I was soon in shape to go down to the feast that was held for the end of the year. My parents had long since apperated back to our house to keep an eye on Emily, Emma, Vivian and JJ.

James, Danny, Devin, Fred and I made out way down the main set of stairs. There were plenty of other students making their way down to the feast.

Devin left us to join her friends at the Huffelpuff table and the rest of use plopped down at the Gryffondor table.

"May I have your attention?" called McGonagall.

Everyone in the hall went quiet.

"As I see from our decorations that Ravenclaw has won the House Cup this year! However, I have been asked to inform you that Gryffondor had won the Quidditch Cup this year! The points for the House Cup are as follows. In fourth place: Huffelpuff, with 401 points. In third place Slytheren, with 446 points. In second place: Gryffondor with 498 points. And in first place Ravenclaw, with 513 points!" McGonagall announced.

"What?" I asked James, "I thought we were in third place! Slytheren was in second place!"

James smiled at me, "Devin earned her house 60 points. You and Fred each earned Gryffondor a total of 95 points" James said. I nodded in approval.

"Nice" I muttered to James.

"Now, you might be just a bit hungry so, let the feast begin!" McGonagall clapped her hands and suddenly our plates filled with wonderful smelling and delicious looking food. I licked my lips and stared down at what I was going to eat.

"Does the whole school know about what happened in the dungeon?" I asked James.

James chewed for a moment and then said, "No, not the whole school. Just most of them. The news will travel pretty fast. But don't worry. By next summer it'll have died down and you won't have to worry about fame"

"I wonder if this is how your father felt" I mused.

"Maybe" James said and took a big bite of green beans.

I shrugged and went back to my food.

"I don't really care about the fame…" I said after a while, "I mean, I am already the daughter of a famous broomstick designer and a famous fashion designer"

"I can tell you feel differently but you just don't want to say it" James said.

"Do not!" I said swatting at him.

"Mmmhmm" James said.

**:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::**

The next day James and I stood on the platform, waiting to board the train. I looked at James. "See you this summer?" I asked.

"Hmm. I hope so" James said.

"We're not saying goodbye yet" I said laughing.

"Right" James said and together we boarded the train. We spent our last few hours of magic together showing off our skills and expertise in different fields of magic. James was very good at Charms and Transfiguration while I was great at Jinxes and Hexes.

As we were pulling into the station I looked at James, "Doesn't it feel just the slightest bit odd to be going home after all this time at Hogwarts?"

James nodded. "It does feel odd"

I laughed at him, "Well, let's go" I pulled my trunk down from the rack it was on.

"Klove… if you're going to spend summer with me… it has to end… I'm not spending the whole summer with someone who's pretending to barely know me" James said tentatively. I looked at him for a long moment and nodded my approval of the idea.

"Okay James" I said.

"Good" James said and together we lugged our trunks from the train.

"Are you ready to be back in London?" I asked before he exited.

"No… I don't think I am" James said after musing for moment, "Not at all"

As we got off the train my eyes fell upon my mother and father standing and talking with Mr. and Mrs. Potter, and a man and I woman I'd never met. The man was tall and had red hair to match Mrs. Potter. The woman had brown hair that was fairly bushy.

"There" I said pointing at them.

"Ooh! Are you ready Klove?" James asked.

"Yeah" I said but I could hear a note on uncertainty in my voice.

"C'mon! We have to tell them sometime" James said.

"I guess so" I replied and let him take my hand and pull me toward my parents. As we approached I became more and more confident. I walked a little faster until I wasn't slightly behind James and let go of his hand.

"Klover!" Dad said and picked me up swinging me around, "Recovering all right?"

"Yeah Dad" I said and smiled at him.

"I would like you to meet Mr. Ronald Weasly, and Mrs. Hermione Weasly" Dad said motioned to the people I hadn't met.

"Nice to meet you" I said cheerily.

"Klo, what is James Potter doing here?" Mum asked quietly so only I could hear. I walked over to James and put one arm around his shoulder.

"Mum… Dad…. I have something to tell you…"


End file.
